The Game
by MouseMaster42
Summary: You just lost. A collection of humorous random one-shots about life at Brawl with some short arcs throughout, mostly following the older teenagers around as they go through average and not-so-average problems of life. Originally completely random fluff, it has miraculously evolved to a higher meaning and now includes a full spectrum of emotion. Lots of character development. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1: Boys' Locker Room

**I'm taking a break from my other SSBB story **_**Inkblot**_**, due to the fact that I realized last night that I seriously needed to revise about half of my plot, so apologies to anyone who's waiting on that…I'll get back to it as soon as I get things sorted out. **

**In the meantime, I have**_** this**_** fluffy, plot-bunny spawned thing. It's just one-shots. Maybe they'll connect to a higher meaning someday. Who knows? But I figured I'd upload the first chapter to see what people think. Rated T mostly for several sexual innuendos. **

**Anyway, read this, hopefully enjoy it, and then please review! I have a few chapters written of this already, but it's pretty sporadic. I just write for this whenever I hit a road-block with my other stuff….Now I'm rambling. I'm sorry. ;_;**

**Disclaimer: All of the SSBB characters and their respective items/stages whatever belong to Nintendo, not me. *sigh* If only, right?**

**Chapter 1: Boys' Locker Room**

Link slouched through the doorway leading from the stage, rubbing at an angry red pattern on his cheek that had come from the net that hung around the stage, preventing serious injury on those who were launched off.

"Lucky little…." He trailed off, glancing at the mark on his face in one of the mirrors that hung over a row of porcelain sinks. "Argh…" He spread his arms out to grip the sides of the chipped sink, letting the Master Sword hang limply in his gloved fingers. After a minute, he glared up at his smudged reflection again, wincing as the cut on his face began to trickle blood down his neck, turning the green fabric of his tunic a muddy brown.

A roar went up from the crowds suddenly, with a loud scream cutting through the noise. Link assumed (correctly) that someone else had been thrown off of the platform. That only left two more…

After waiting for a minute without anyone coming into the locker room, Link decided that it must have been Sheik who had been thrown off. She would be going to the one on the opposite end of the stage. There were a total of three locker rooms placed around the Brawl stage; one for boys, one for the girls (obviously), and then an extra one for any non-humans like R.O.B. or Kirby.

Link, to his chagrin, had been talked into a four-way brawl earlier that morning. It had been a crowd pleaser mostly; take all of the guys with swords, throw them together, then toss in a random girl just to make things interesting. Link had hoped that Sheik would provide a bit of a distraction while he waited to take out Ike and Marth—the other two brawlers—with his bow, but that hadn't happened. He had been launched off right away by Marth's final smash; and Link wasn't even sure how the guy had managed to get hold of a smash ball, considering that they were only a few minutes into the fight.

"Stupid!" Link brought his fist down on the sink, making a satisfying sound that was somewhere between a 'chink' and a 'thwack.'

There was another crowd-scream from outside, this time accompanied by a very loud 'bang' that make Link drop his sword to cover his ears.

Within a few minutes, a crabby-looking Marth stomped into the locker room.

"Ike get you?" Link asked, noticing the traces of smoke that had followed Marth inside.

Marth muttered something profane as he shucked off his cape and armor, throwing them angrily across the room where they skittered against the floor before smashing into a locker.

"…such an idiot!" he hissed under his breath. "Ike is so slow! I should've moved."

"How do you think _I_ feel?" Link pointed out.

"The fight was mine," Marth pouted, but Link could tell that he wasn't as upset as he had been a moment ago. Everyone was always hard on themselves when they were hit with a smash, considering the fact that nearly all of them were avoidable.

"So anyway," Marth continued, kicking his boots off as he spun the dial on his locker. "Are you scheduled for anything else this afternoon?"

Link had resumed examining his face. "Hmm?"

Marth turned around and finally noticed the red marks on his comrade's face that matched the pattern of the safety net. "Oh, ow. It looks like you got mauled by a cat. Does it hurt?"

"_No, _not at all."

Marth shrugged in response to Link's sarcasm and unbuttoned his tunic to his waist, pulling down the shoulders to examine a purpling bruise on his back. "Remind me again why we do this to ourselves every day."

Link finally decided that his face had stopped bleeding, detached himself from the mirror before Marth could call him a narcissist, and opened his own locker, triggering an avalanche of clothes.

Marth raised an eyebrow as he reached for a clean turtleneck shirt in his locker. Link noticed that Marth had a picture taken last year at the crazy New Year's Eve party taped to his locker door. Good times…

"Do you _ever_ empty that thing out?" the prince asked. "I don't think you've worn any of these clothes since you shoved them in there six months ago."

"Nope." Link grinned. "Anyway, we do this to ourselves because it's fun. Where else can you beat on your friends all day?"

The blue-haired teenager craned his neck again to look at the bruise before he slid his shirt on.

"Relax," said Link. "It's just a bruise."

"Yes, well, when was the last time _you_ took a direct hit from _Ike?_" Marth grumbled. "Have you seen how big his sword is? It's ridiculous. Something that big should be illegal."

Link chortled. "That's what she said."

Marth was about to snap Link over the head with a towel when Ike walked in, the victory laurel crown dangling around his neck.

"Good game," was all the taller man said as he tossed his huge sword onto a bench and started to undo his cape.

"Thanks," Marth replied politely. "You too." It was obvious he didn't really mean it.

Link glowered at both of them. Marth could be such a suck-up.

Marth pulled his crown from his hair and threw it at Link, saying "Think fast" as he threw it. Link just managed to snag it with his finger and examined the girly thing in his hands.

"And you wonder why the majority of people here still think you're a girl," he said, tossing the circle back to Marth after the latter had finished fixing the neck on the crimson turtleneck had had just put on.

"Oh shut up," Marth said sourly, putting the crown on his head again. As always, he was touchy about the whole gender thing, but in all honesty, if Link hadn't seen Marth shirtless in the locker room so many times, he may have doubted it too. "And _you _wonder why everyone still thinks you're a Christmas elf who got outsourced from the North Pole."

"Oi!" Link complained.

"Break it up," Ike spoke quietly from where he stood, but Marth and Link still stopped what they were doing (which was making a lunge for the other's throat), looking mollified. "Honestly, you two fight like lovers."

"HEY!" the other two shouted in unison as their faces turned bright red.

"I'm just saying," Ike said as he threw on a battered sweatshirt that looked like as if it had been washed a little too much over a pair of equally battered jeans. Were it not for his oddly colored hair, he looked like a normal young adult. That was how they all dressed outside of the stage. As Marth had once pointed out; cloaks and armor are all very nice in battles, but they're a pain when trying to live a modern life. Pit had once gotten his tunic stuck in the refrigerator door, and after that mind-scarring little incident everyone had started wearing more modern clothing.

Marth looked on the verge of saying something nasty, but Ike shoved past him to get to the door, almost as if he sensed the impending insult.

After he had gone, Link shot Marth a furious look. "_'Elf?'_" he asked dangerously.

"If you call me a girl you take what you get, my friend," Marth said, throwing his tunic down a conveniently-placed laundry chute. He shot Link a sideways look, his blue eyes sparkling. "I could call you wolf-boy, if you like?"

Link's jaw dropped. "You did _not_—!"

Marth grinned. "Yeah. We got Twilight Princess. We were playing it all night. It seems like you can't do anything on your own though, without your little fairy friend to help you."

"Shut—!" Link started, but Marth was already walking through the door. Furious, Link flipped the bird in Marth's general direction, and even though the prince obviously couldn't see it, it made Link feel a bit better.

"Dang it!" he hissed as he threw his sweaty and bloodstained tunic down the laundry chute as well. They had played Twilight Princess. Someone had taken _extreme_ poetic license on that thing, in Link's opinion. He probably wouldn't be able to walk down the hallway without some jibe directed at him for at least a week.

Marth sucked.

**Soooo…yep. Mostly just randomness. I always wonder what would happen if Link tried to play his own videogame. XD It'd also be incredibly embarrassing; especially if he couldn't do it.**

**Most of these (of the, like, 3 chapters that I have) follow the older teenagers (Marth, Ike, Link, Zelda, etc) with some of the younger kids and adults thrown in, FYI. **

**I am sooo brain-dead! ;_; If you see any errors, please point them out! **

**Please review! If people like this, then I can upload more. I'm also open to requests, so any suggestions about what to write about are appreciated. ;) **


	2. Chapter 2: Breakfast

**Hello to all! Chapter two of my fluff-fest is up, thanks to my plot bunny Hershel (you know you're weird when you name your plot bunnies…). This will be the last chapter for a bit, sorry. ;_; I'm still trying to sort out **_**Inkblot **_**issues, but I'll get back to this approximately when I feel like it. I hope this tides you over until then. :)**

**Special thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; I don't think this chapter has a definite theme and my lame excuse is because I'm introducing some of the other main characters, but I think it's better than the last one (insert shrug), and the next chapter definitely has a good theme. I hope you enjoy this nonetheless. :) Another thanks to **_**ClumsyHeart17**_**, I'm glad you like the way I narrate. You made my day just there. Go you! And a third thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; blunt reviews are good too XD. I always have a hard time picturing the SSBB people walking around in their capes and dresses and stuff, so I thought it'd be funny to put them in more modern clothing. As to your other comment, they're a bit nicer to each other in this chapter, so all is well. **

**And with that, I give you my lame disclaimer—all SSBB characters and their respective stages/weapons/trademarks/whatever the heck I decide to throw in there belong to Nintendo and not the little MouseMaster (sigh)—and here you go! Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**~EDIT~ BTW, I noticed when I was looking through the archive that there's another fairly recent fanfiction about how Marth's addicted to caffeine, and I'd like to go on record by saying that the Marth in my fanfics isn't addicted to caffeine, he just recognizes its live-giving abilities. I also didn't mean to steal that author's thunder (I wrote this a looong time ago—I'm not copying). ;_; I figured the circumstances were different enough that it didn't really matter. **

**BTW again (I'll shut up in a minute and let you enjoy the story), there's some mild language in this chapter, as well as several terrible jokes; just a heads up. ;_; Marth says weird stuff when he's tired.**

**Chapter 2: Breakfast**

"Hey Marth?" Pit asked quietly, holding his breakfast tray carefully so as not to spill as he looked down at the Altean, who was slumped over one of the booth tables that lined the cafeteria wall. "Can I sit here?"

Marth blinked dazedly and looked up from a mug of coffee, revealing dark circles under his eyes. "Sure, Kid."

Pit smiled knowingly as he sat down, pulling the bunches out of his too-big T-shirt that was actually a hand-me-down from Ike. "Twilight Princess?"

"Yep," was all Marth said before resuming his dead man's stare into the coffee.

"You know Link's ticked, right?"

"Yep. Why do you think I bought the game?"

Samus left the buffet line and walked over to Marth's table. "Are you two talking about top secret male things, or can I sit here?"

"Yeah, you can sit here," Marth said sleepily, hardly even recognizing Samus in front of him. If he had, he would have made more of an effort at conversation, instead of just staring past her at the wall.

"So how late were you up last night?" Samus asked as she deftly swiped Marth's coffee out of his hands and replaced it with her breakfast tray, laden with eggs and bacon and all things breakfast-y.

"Samus!" Marth exclaimed, finally waking up enough to recognize that she had taken his caffeine-giving coffee away. "What are you…? Wh—I…..Huh?" His eyes, which were usually so alert, were glazed over; his pupils huge even in the bright light of the cafeteria.

Samus thought, perhaps inappropriately, that Marth was adorable when he was tired. Usually he seemed so sharp, like his sword edge, but now he looked sort of blurred at the edges. "No, it's fine. I'm on a diet." She sipped his coffee happily.

Marth reluctantly picked up the fork and started to eat some of the scrambled eggs on the plate.

"You never did answer her question," Pit spoke up. "About how late you were up last night."

"It's not really a question of how late I was up last night," Marth mumbled around a mouthful, "as much as it is a question of when I passed out this morning."

Pit made a sympathetic noise.

Samus rolled her eyes. "And I'm assuming it's your new little game that kept you up all this time?"

"Yeah. I got stuck in a temple, and figured I might as well finish instead of having to start over."

"Smooth," Pit commented.

Marth shrugged, and then made a wild grab for his coffee mug, missing by a few inches because Samus yanked it away with a smirk.

"You wore those clothes yesterday, didn't you?" she asked, pointing with her little finger at Marth's attire; a blue hoodie sweatshirt with the strings lopsided over what appeared to be a white shirt and a pair of washed out jeans.

"Did not," Marth said indignantly, trying and failing not to look too closely at Samus's skinny jeans and her closely fitting sweater. "I changed this morning, before breakfast."

"I'm amazed you were awake enough to put your pants on the right way," Samus said dryly.

Marth started to make a snarky retort about what Samus could do with her pants, but then remembered that an angel was sitting next to him and tried again. "Are you brawling today?"

"Yeah," Samus said, taking another swig of Marth's coffee. "Against one of the kids. The Poke guy."

"Just a one on one?" Marth asked, slightly curious despite his curiosity-damped exhausted state. "With Ash?" They had taken to calling the Pokemon Trainer 'Ash' after his official counterpart. The boy had initially insisted that his name was Quincy, but he eventually decided that he liked Ash better.

"No, we've got Luigi thrown in there too," Samus said, flicking some of her blonde hair over her shoulder. "But I'm not too worried about him. Maybe I'll get lucky and the kid and the dwarf will take each other out."

Marth laughed humorlessly. "Don't get your hopes up. Link tried that yesterday and it didn't work very well."

"I know. I saw."

Marth blinked tiredly. Samus had been watching his brawl yesterday? His sluggish brain was too fried to process that fact properly without caffeine. "Then you saw when I got pwned by Ike a few minutes later, right?"

"Only after you helped take out Sheik."

Marth shrugged modestly. "Yeah, well…Anyway, good luck."

"Watch out for Charizard," Pit suggested helpfully around a mouthful of his bagel. "He's the one that's hard to hit."

Samus stood up, taking Marth's mug with her. "Thanks, kid. I'll keep that in mind." With a jaunty little salute that would have looked cocky if a guy had done it, but since it was Samus nobody cared, she was off towards the battle stage.

"I'm assuming you have the day off?" Pit asked Marth, who had sagged onto the table, his eyes glazed over.

"You know what happens when you assume…" he slurred.

"No," the ever naive Pit said. "What happens?"

"You make an ass out of 'u' and me," Marth said solemnly as he began to nibble on a strip of bacon.

It took Pit a moment to get the joke, but he laughed lightly when he did. "That's a good one."

Marth looked at him sideways. "What do a plum and a camel have in common?"

Pit thought about it for a few seconds. "I don't know."

The prince looked straight ahead again, his voice flat as he delivered the punch line. "They're both purple, except the camel."

The joke was so lame that Pit was startled into a laugh. Marth shot him a glare that told Pit that the blue-haired young man was more than a little concerned for Pit's sanity if he thought that was funny.

"So you do have a brawl today?" Pit asked, instantly serious again in a subtle attempt to suck-up to Marth, who was much higher up on the SSBB hierarchy than himself. Pit, along with Ash, often found themselves stuck in the middle of things. They were too mature to hang out with the younger kids like Ness and the ice-climbers, but none of the older people like Snake or Ganondorf really wanted to hang out with them because they were too young. Pit considered himself lucky that he had been able to edge in with the sword-fighters like Marth and sometimes Link, when the Hyrulian was in a good mood. Ash hadn't had as much luck, but Pit sometimes brought him along as a guest when the older people threw a party (which was often), so it was all starting to work out. Marth had once told Pit that if Roy were still around, they would have gotten along because Roy was a bit younger, but Roy had left awhile ago when they started having issues back in his homeland, so that was that.

"Yep," Marth answered the angel's question after a long pause. "With Kirby, Ness, and someone else who I've forgotten. It'll be easy; I'm the only one with a sword."

Link and Zelda walked over together, making Marth look up in surprise when he noticed that Zelda's arm was looped through Link's elbow. Were they going out again?

"Morning," Link said, taking in Marth's haggard appearance. "One word, Marth: coffee."

"I had some," Marth said sullenly. "Emphasis on 'had.' Hi Zelda."

"Samus stole it," Pit said matter-of-factly.

"Since when were you two going out?" Marth asked, peering up through a curtain of blue at the Hyrulians. "I thought you were with Captain Falcon…?"

Zelda blushed. "We broke up awhile ago."

"Oh. Okay." Marth was too tired to say anything more than that. He and Zelda had dated for awhile too (Zelda went through boyfriends pretty fast), and he wondered fuzzily what had happened with Falcon.

"We're talking about getting a group together to go to The Brink sometime this week," Link said. "You in?" The question was directed at Marth, not at Pit.

Marth ran a weary hand through his hair, raking it away from his cobalt eyes. "Yeah. I'm totally in. Just not tonight, 'kay? I think I'm going to bed after my brawl."

Pit looked at Link hopefully. "Is it an open invitation, or big kids only?"

Link shrugged, rumpling his green mock football jersey. "You can tag along if you like. Have you ever been to The Brink?"

Pit shook his head. "What is it?"

Zelda giggled behind her hand. "It's a fun place, Angel."

Pit blinked, startled.

"In fact," Link said thoughtfully. "See if you can get Ash to come too. The bigger the group the better."

"But what's The Brink?" Pit asked again.

Marth grinned lopsidedly. "I guess you'll have to wait to find out, kid."

**Ha….Marth said 'pwned.' Forgive my slap-happy humor, my brain is fried. ;_; So many projects to finish!**

**Marth won't be in every chapter, FYI; I just felt that this situation was too good to pass up. I'm trying to switch characters a lot to get a feel for writing from different points of view and stuff….And there will be a few pairings (not just Link and Zelda), but that definitely won't be the main part of the story. And they'll be changing a lot too (they're all mostly teenagers, what are you gonna do?). **

**What is The Brink, you ask? Why, "it's a fun place." You'll just have to wait to find out. XD Feel free to guess though. **

**ANYWAY! Review and let me know what you think, (please go easy on me; I'm beat) and a happy weekend to you all! (TGI-almost-F!)**


	3. Chapter 3: Colds

**Okay, Hershel was in fine form today, so this was written very quickly. In all honesty, I wasn't sure what The Brink was (I'm a procrastinator like that), but then **_**ClumsyHeart17**_** gave me the terrific/slightly dirty idea of doing a club-like thing, and it just took off, so thank you. That chapter's going to be **_**epic**_**. However, I felt that Quincy(Ash)'s character needed a bit more explaining seeing as I plan to bring him in a bit more, so I give you this little chapter instead. Don't worry; I'll get back to The Brink in the next chapter or two. Also to **_**ClumsyHeart17**_**, you aren't reading too far into it. They're fighting; of course they're always trying to one-up each other. Plus I just like writing them that way. XD And Ike and Samus are a bit younger (I honestly don't know how old they are in real life…). They're around Marth's and Link's age (sixteen or seventeen). They might be closer to eighteen…I don't know. They're all older teenagers. Pit and Ash (Quincy) are closer to thirteen-fourteen-ish. Only the older guys like Snake and Ganondorf are older than twenty. BTW, I laughed when I heard that joke for the first time too, don't feel bad. XD**

**Another thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**: as much as I try not to focus on Marth, he'll probably at least be around for the majority of the events (unless he's stuck in his room laughing at Link in Twilight Princess). Samus will be popping up quite a bit too, so I hope to please your fangirly-ness. Woot! **

**ANOTHER (jeez…Maybe I'll just put**_** Inkblot**_** on a longer hold so I can work on this instead…) thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**. I love your reviews, they make me laugh. This story is actually starting to turn into something cool, and I really enjoy writing all the different characters. The whole "Quincy" thing was honestly taken off the top of my head. XD I've never read "Precocious." What is it?**

**Disclaimer: Nothing SSBB related belongs to me. ;_; All Nintendo. Lucky ducks.**

**Please read, enjoy, maybe laugh a little (this chapter isn't really funny…), and then review!**

**Chapter 3: Colds**

Quincy (AKA Ash) was wandering around the hallways, Pikachu bouncing along at his side. Pikachu had been following him around almost constantly since he arrived at Brawl. The mousey thing even occasionally slept at the foot of Ash's bed.

Ash made sure to tread lightly as he walked, remembering that over half of the brawlers had been recently taken down by a bad case of the stomach flu. People had hypothesized that it originally started with the ice-climbers, who always seemed to have a cold of some sort. Then it had passed onto Lucas and Ness, then probably onto Marth when he had brawled Ness a few days ago, then it had gotten spread to the swordsmen, then Zelda had caught it from Link and spread it to the girls, and now the only people who weren't infected were those who were protected from the outside world like Meta Knight and Olimar, and people like Ash who weren't really part of any social circle.

He was walking past Ike's room when one of the numerous maids ducked out from it. To call them maids was a bit of a misnomer, in Ash's opinion, seeing as a few of them were male. This one wasn't; it was a young lady wearing the uniform of dark jeans and a SSBB-staff T-shirt. She smiled at Ash and made the _'shh'_ gesture with her finger.

"Right," Ash whispered, absently reaching down to scratch Pikachu's head where the pokemon liked it best. "How's Ike doing?"

She rolled her eyes. "About the same. Running to the bathroom every hour or so. Just like everyone else." She appraised Ash with large brown eyes, and Ash wondered vaguely as to her ethnicity. She wasn't American or Japanese—the two main ethnicities of the maids. Something southern? "It's sort of funny that you haven't caught it."

Ash grinned. "That's what happens when you're a social hermit." Pikachu made the weird cooing sound that it made when it wanted to be picked up. Ash scooped it into his arms, letting it nuzzle the brim of his hat.

"It's so cute…" the girl smiled. "Does it always follow you like that?"

There was an awful retching noise from inside Ike's room. Ash tried to ignore it. "Yeah. It likes me. Always had, ever since I got here."

"That's so cool," the maid said with another warm smile. "Your name's Ash, right?"

"Yeah," Ash smiled. This girl was nice.

"My names Nya." **(AN: I think it's pronounced **_**Nie-ah**_**.)**

Ash thought the name was familiar. "That's a…Altean name, isn't it? Do you know Marth?"

Nya grinned. "I think he knows a _Nyna_. **(AN: kudos to anyone who knows who Nyna is)** My name only has one 'n.' It's Swahili."

"Oh. Sorry."

She tossed her dark hair over her shoulder. "No problem. It must be hard keeping all the different names straight."

"Not really," Ash admitted. "I don't use people's names when I talk to them much."

She looked at him curiously. "So you're the pokemon kid? Aren't you only, like, ten?"

"I'm thirteen," Ash said embarrassedly. "I've been away from home since I was ten though."

"That seems a little young to get booted out of the nest, doesn't it?"

Ash shrugged, thinking of his parents back in the pokemon world. "I don't think so. We send emails and Skype a lot, so we stay in touch. They know I'm safe. What about your parents? You can't be much older than me."

"I'm fifteen," she nodded. "This is my summer job. The best summer job ever, if you ask me. But I've been going to boarding school since I was eight, so being away from my 'rents is nothing new."

"That's cool," Ash said. The conversation came to an awkward pause.

"I have to get moving," Nya said. "Earn my college money and all that. Nice talking to you." She walked off, and Ash was suddenly realized that the maids here were very much like the Nurse Joys back home. Weird.

"Pikaaa?" Pikachu asked from its perch on Ash's shoulder.

"Nah, I don't think pokemon can catch the flu. You don't need to worry," Ash answered, then scratched its head between the ears again, triggering an ecstatic rush of sparks that rushed into Ash's fingers. "Hey…" the trainer said mildly. "Don't zap the hand that pets you."

Pikachu made an apologetic squeak, and Ash nodded his forgiveness, and then thought dismally to himself how pathetic it was that his only friend was a pokemon. He didn't fit in well with the older kids, and the younger kids weren't really interesting. Lucas had been following him around like a little chick for awhile, but Ash had finally suggested that he go hang out with Ness instead.

"Want to brawl?" Ash finally suggested out of pure boredom more than anything else. "I'd go easy on you…?"

Pikachu gave him a lazy look and scampered down from Ash's shoulder, padding along beside him on the hallway tiles. He decided to take that as a no.

Ike's door suddenly hissed open with a pneumatic hiss, and he shuffled out into the hallway, clothes rumpled, his face a light green color with dark shadows under his eyes.

"Hi Ike," Ash attempted. Of all the people to try and have a conversation with, Ike was probably the worst. He was too quiet. And a sick Ike was even worse.

"Yo," Ike muttered.

"Where are you going?" Ash asked.

"Infirmary. See if they have anything that'd help."

Ash shook his head. "I was talking to Pit earlier, and they don't. Nothing other than the cold medicine."

Ike sagged against the wall with a heavy sigh. "That sucks."

Ash wondered if there was anything he could do. "Oh hey! Doesn't Peach do those fruity things?"

"_Peaches?_" Ike sounded like that was the stupidest mistake anyone could make.

"Yeah!" Ash continued anyway. "Do you think those could help?"

Ike's eyes lit up briefly. "Worth a shot." He staggered down the hallway, Ash and Pikachu following cautiously behind him.

"Are you_ sure_ you're okay…?" Ash asked hesitantly after a moment.

"No. That's why I'm going to Peach."

"Oh. Duh." Ash mentally smacked himself.

Ike continued his zombie-shuffle down the hallway.

"_Riiight_…" Ash said awkwardly. "I'm going to go get something to eat…see you." When Ike didn't answer, he tacked on, "I hope the peaches help."

Ike still didn't answer.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried, and Ash guessed that translated to something like 'jerk,' but decided not to say the translation out loud. It was bad enough having Ike think he was an idiot, much less having him think that he was mean too. He might not live out the night.

"Come on, let's get some food," Ash said, leading Pikachu down towards the cafeteria. _If,_ he thought to himself, _those peaches do work; I may have just gotten myself into the 'cool' crowd_. _Then I won't have to depend on Pit so much for inviting me to all the parties and things. Awesome. _

And then, _I _really_ hope those peaches work._

…**I had to throw in a random OC. I'm sorry. XD Ash is so cute…! I just had to write this. **

**BTW, the trip to The Brink (dun dun duuuuuun) got officially postponed by Link seeing as everyone got sick. Don't worry, they'll get back to it later. XD**

**And with that I _seriously_ say goodbye for the weekend (AHH! FINALS!)! Please review! I love reviews!**

**Please point out any errors I made. I wrote this completely on the fly. ;_;**


	4. Chapter 4: After Dinner

**I'm back! Unfortunately, my weekend did not yield any Inkblot revelations, so I'm working on this instead until I work the whole thing out. So…that's a good thing for you guys, I guess. **

**Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; I sort of figured you at least would get the Nyna thing. XD This chapter is a bit longer than the last one, but not by much. I keep meaning to make these things longer... I'm so bad at being consistent. Oh well. I hope you enjoy. Quincy will be popping up on a regular basis, now that I have him officially introduced. **

**Another thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; kudos to you for getting the Nyna reference! FE fans FTW! I do love Quincy. (and everyone else seems to as well) He's become a pet character of mine. I personally wouldn't recommend checking out Inkblot just yet…we've run into a few technical difficulties…;_; You'll just get stuck. I love your philosophy, and thanks for the complements! I'll do my best to continue to deserve them. :)**

**A third thanks to **_**ClumsyHeart17**_**; unfortunately, that OC probably won't be popping up very often. I just realized that I had run out of girls to pair all of the guys with if I keep going with the pairings I planned, so I wanted to give my Quincy some options. The Brink is going to be SOOO epic….It's going to pop up soon. It might even take up a few chapters…Or it'll just be a really long one, I don't know. But I owe you for the idea. Thanks again. :)**

**And a final thanks to **_**EmilySamara**_** (new reviewer! Yay!); I'm glad you think it's funny. My versions of the characters are more awkward than funny, but wait until we get Marth and Ike on a sugar high or something. It'll be great. :) Ike finally gets properly introduced in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: all of the SSBB characters do not belong to me. **

**BTW, I should probably mention this; but I've decided to treat Zelda and Sheik as two separate people. It just gets a lot less confusing that way, in my opinion. **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 4: After-Dinner**

"It's ON!" Marth called, slamming both hands on the table to vault himself into the booth isle, making a dash for the brawl stage with Link and Meta Knight running along behind him.

Ike watched them go from the booth where he had, until a few seconds ago, been sitting with the three of them. For most of the evening, Link and Meta Knight had been having a mock sword fight with their forks, then Marth got involved with his butter knife and things had gotten nasty. Link had eventually pointed out sourly when Meta Knight had stabbed him that it was fairer if they had _real_ swords, and Marth had promised that they would go brawl after dinner. They had then been able to be civilized for about ten minutes, then Link had finally finished his dessert and they all scampered off like little kids running after the ice cream truck.

Sheik came over to the almost empty booth, holding a cherry slushie in her hands, and flopped onto the chair across from Ike, yanking a grayish scarf away from her face. Ike looked up at her questioningly.

"I saw most of the boys"—most of the adults and some of the teenagers referred to the swordsmen as _'the boys'_—"run off, so I thought you could use some company," she explained with a shrug. "You're usually sitting by yourself, so I thought…Y'know. Besides, my clone's getting a little boring." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Zelda, who was sitting with Peach and talking about something girly.

"I wasn't really looking for company."

Sheik's eyes widened a little. "Wow. You're blunt. Why are you even here, then, if you're not looking for company? This is supposed to be a social place for all of us. I mean, come on, I just had a civil conversation with_ Ganondorf_ yesterday, and here you are moping around in your corner, not talking to anyone."

"I'm not _moping_; I was with the others until a minute ago," Ike protested.

"So what's wrong with me?" she asked, and then pointed with a wrapped finger towards one of the TVs hanging from the cafeteria ceiling. "Oh, hey look, they're starting."

On an impulse, Ike caught her hand. "Why do you wrap your fingers like that?"

"Hmm?" She flexed her hand, as if noticing the white tape for the first time. "Well, it's a pain to do properly, and I feel like, once I've done it, why not just leave it."

Meanwhile, Link and Marth had obviously decided that it was too much of a pain to change, and were trying to fight Meta Knight with his armor while wearing just sweatshirts and sneakers themselves. Ike was watching the screen out of his peripheral vision and smirked when he saw Link slip down a hill and nearly fall off the stage because his hands had no grips. Marth had the sense to at least put on his gloves, although Ike could see that they weren't buckled properly and weren't doing the Altean much good.

"They're funny to watch, aren't they?" Sheik asked, flipping her blonde braid over her shoulder. "Why aren't you all sword-ho like they are?"

Ike raised an eyebrow at the improvised word 'sword-ho' and shrugged. "I like to be ready for a fight. Not on the fly like they are."

On the screen, Marth took too strong a hit and flailed backwards, knocking into Link and sending the latter almost sprawling off of the stage and into the safety net. He only managed to save himself by grabbing onto the edge at the very last second. Marth was already back in the air, slashing at Meta Knight with a huge grin on his face.

Sheik chuckled. "He's going to hear about that one later."

Ike shrugged. He knew Marth. "He probably landed like that on purpose. He was hoping that Link would fall off."

A smash ball was thrown onto the stage, and both swordsmen immediately leapt after it, clawing and kicking at each other to get there first. Link was still struggling to get back on the stage, his hands sliding across the smooth surface.

"Boys," Sheik said dismissively, turning away from the TV screen. "So I hear the Pokemon trainer is the one who told you that Peach's peaches cure the flu."

"Yeah. The kid's smart."

"He practically saved the whole complex. We should take him to The Brink with us when we get around to going."

"Yeah," Ike nodded. "Pit can invite him."

"NICE!" some of the younger kids chorused. Ike and Sheik glanced up at the screen to see Meta Knight floating in the air and Marth jumping back up into the air.

"What just happened?" Samus called from where she was playing chess with Snake.

Pit flitted up to the TV and pressed the replay button. Everyone watched as a pixilated Marth leapt up in the air in slow-mo and was struck by Meta Knight's sword before he could get his own around.

"He should have died right there," Ike spoke aloud.

"Watch!" Pit insisted.

Almost immediately after he was hit, Marth grabbed hold of Meta Knight's shoulder plates and somehow flipped himself forward, using the armor as leverage to stop his backwards momentum. He landed soundly, and the replay ended.

"Wow…" Samus said, knocking over one of Snake's pawns with her bishop . "That boy has skills."

"He's quick," Ike admitted, then returned his attention to Sheik, who was still watching as the fight resumed in normal speed.

Link had finally managed to roll back up and immediately hit Marth with an arrow when Marth rebounded onto the stage after taking a stab from Meta Knight.

"_Anyway,_" Sheik said pointedly, turning back to Ike. "Are you looking forward to The Brink?"

Ike shrugged. "There was a little incident last time. If we're lucky it won't happen again."

Sheik slurped her slushie. "Oh this sounds good. What happened?"

Ike smirked a little despite himself. "There was a bit of gender confusion. You were probably there. Remember the issue where Snake ended up…?"

Sheik suddenly choked on her slushie and erupted into a hysterical coughing fit. Ike reached over the table to pat her back awkwardly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, letting his hand hang lightly on her shoulder.

She sniggered, and then looked up at him with her reddish eyes, a grin on her face. Ike had thought that her eyes were unnerving when he first met Sheik, but now he couldn't look away…

"Ew," Link said, flinging himself down very unexpectedly next to Ike. "Did she seriously just shoot slushie out her nose?"

Ike snapped back to his seat, stuffing both of his hands underneath the table. Sheik's face turned bright red and she reflexively yanked her grey scarf up over her face like her costume mask, hiding all but her eyes.

"When the heck did you get back?" she hissed, her voice slightly muffled through the fabric.

"Just a minute ago," Link said lazily, and then finally realized that Ike and Sheik were both still blushing. "Whoa, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

"No!" Ike and Sheik yelped, Sheik managing to croak, "Where's Marth?" through her embarrassment. Ike didn't trust himself to say anything else and had resorted to staring at the wall behind Sheik's shoulder.

"Got a bloody nose," Link explained as he stood up from the booth. "I should probably go check on him. See you two later." It was a pathetic excuse to leave, but Link probably thought he was doing Ike a favor.

Ike moaned after Link left and leaned forward onto the table, putting his head in his hands.

"…Did I really shoot slushie out my nose?" Sheik asked, sounding slightly concerned. Ike glanced up to see her examining her shirt for the telltale red stains.

"No," he sighed. "You're fine. Link was just messing around."

"Oh," Sheik said uncomfortably. Whatever moment had existed between them was gone, leaving awkwardness in its place.

Ike stood up to leave, wanting nothing more than to just escape back to his room. Sheik startled him by grabbing onto his sweatshirt sleeve. He resisted his initial instinct to tug away, and made the mistake of looking into her eyes again.

"You are going to The Brink with us, right?" she clarified.

Ike ran though a (short) mental list of possible answers and finally flashed a weak smile at Sheik and said, "Wouldn't miss it."

…**.I'm going to leave that whole "gender confusion incident" thing up to your imaginations. **

**There's some Ike/Sheik fluff for ya….Once again, I'm not planning to make my pairings a huge part of the story (so hopefully you can still enjoy the thing if you don't agree with mine), but I'm just introducing them now. :) **

**Please review! It makes my day! **


	5. Chapter 5: Football

**This was actually intended to be the first chapter of my Brink-arc, but then all of my guy friends were flipping out about the playoffs, and Hershel started going insane, so I wrote this instead. I just made them Packer-fans because Link likes the color green. And then the Vikings because they're rivals, and the Steelers because…the Steelers are awesome (you'll see what I mean). This also isn't following this year's Super bowl (I don't even know who's still in this one…), it's just a random one. XD **

**Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; this chapter is much more descriptive than the last, but there's still a lot of dialogue. It's sort of a fine balance, and I know I don't always get it. XD I always like your nag-nags though. They're usually right on. ****This chapter is also a bit short; I hope you don't mind. **

**Another thanks to a newcomer, **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**, for your awesome reviews. I love all the Marth-fangirls. XD Makes me think I'm not alone. **

**A third thanks again to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I burst out laughing when I read your review. It was SO funny, and, yes, I shall try to paint a "Technicolor dreamcoat of utter chaos." We've got some more Marth/Link randomness in this chapter too, so I hope you enjoy. :)**

**Disclaimer: All SSBB characters/stages/catchphrases do not belong to me. Also, all of the NFL teams mentioned here don't belong to me either. **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 5: Football**

"Link?" Pit asked, peeking into Link's room. He could hear the TV blaring through the door, the static of a huge crowd screaming punctuated alternately by a referee's whistle and groans from everyone crammed inside Link's tiny bedroom, watching the game.

"'Sup, kid," Link called, giving Pit permission to enter.

"Wow," Pit muttered as he attempted to open the door, and found it blocked by several persons. All wearing mock football jerseys.

"Hey," Pit heart Marth call mildly and tried to find him, but couldn't even distinguish Marth's blue hair from the masses of people. "Let Pit in."

Sheik reluctantly scooted over; a movement which almost put her into Ike's lap, earning a furious blush from both of them and barely stifled sniggers from everyone else. Snake shuffled sideways, and Pit could finally squeeze through. Instead of trying to step over and around everyone, he carefully slipped his wings through the slits he had cut in the back of his T-shirt and flitted over to an empty spot at the head of Link's bed.

On the fuzzy television screen (the brawlers could never get good reception), one of the teams caught the oddly shaped ball and started running down the grass. About half of the twenty people or so in the bedroom immediately started screaming at the tiny players as if that would make them run faster.

"Are they supposed to do that?" Pit asked Marth, who he had finally spotted sprawled along the side of Link's bed, his head poking up just enough to see the screen.

"Yeah," Marth nodded. "It's called an interception."

Pit glanced down to see the book lying spread-eagled on the floor by Marth's hand. "You're not into football?"

"I'm into the Steelers, and this isn't them," Marth explained. "This is the Packers and the Vikings. Rival match or something." He paused and ducked his head as Link suddenly chucked a pillow at him.

"It's not just a rival match!" Link shouted, standing up on his bed and holding another pillow threateningly in his left hand. Pit noticed that he was wearing another one of his green jerseys; this one with the number twelve emblazoned across the front. "It's _the_ rival match for the _playoffs,_ Marth!"

Marth 'hmmed' drolly as he picked up his book again. "Not that it really matters; the Stealers are going to win the super-bowl anyway."

Link chucked the pillow at him. Marth twisted out of the way, falling casually back onto his elbows as if he had planned the whole thing.

"NOOO!" Quincy howled, sinking to his knees in front of the TV screen as the purple team made a touchdown.

"Who are they?" Pit asked naively.

There was a chorus of groans from around the room.

"Who are they?" Sheik asked incredulously. "They're only the _Vikings_, sworn enemy of the Packers!"

"They don't really look like Vikings," Pit pointed out. "They look like fat guys running around with a ball that's not even a circle."

"HEY NOW!" roared everyone but Marth.

"Well, I just don't see why we care about football so much," Pit said. "Aren't we actually in Canada or something?"

"We're in the Russian/Canadian/US boarder," Snake supplied. "Sort of by southern Alaska."

Marth rolled his eyes, immersed in his book. "You _would _know that."

The green team suddenly snagged the ball out of the air, earning a combination scream/groan from the brawl crowd.

"So we should be watching hockey!" Pit explained. Link reached over to shove him.

Meanwhile, a little green man was doing a victory dance in the touchdown zone. Ike and a few others threw corn nuts at the screen. Link abandoned pushing Pit around and joined in a victory cheer with all the other Packers fans.

"Going to the plaaaay offs! Going to the plaaay offs!" they chanted, while Sheik and Ike viciously argued that it was only third quarter.

Marth stifled a yawn and curled up more next to the bed. Pit slipped down to join him. "What are you reading?"

The prince cracked a smile and showed Pit the cover of his paperback. In a glossy font it read "Twilight Princess Walkthrough."

"Isn't that…?" Pit asked.

Marth grinned, then cracked the book open again, shooting a glance up onto the bed to make sure Link wasn't watching. "I got stuck, so I bought this."

"Where'd you get stuck?" Pit asked, finding Zelda videogames slightly more interesting than football. At least he could get videogames, whereas he still didn't see the point of running a ball down a field. Where was the glory in that?

Marth made a 'tsk' sound and flipped a page, obviously not finding what he was looking for. "Just finished the stupid monkey temple, but now I'm just wandering around with no idea where I'm going—oh wait! Here we go."

A long hand shot past Marth's face, snatching the book out of his hands. Marth hissed in a breath as one of the pages caught his knuckles.

Link flipped the book over so that he could see the cover, and then flung the thing back at Marth head with a cry of "I KNEW IT!"

The Altean had been busy examining the paper cut on his hand and didn't look up in time to catch the volume. It hit him full in the face, then plopped down into his lap.

Half ticked, half amused, Marth leapt onto the bed, springing from all fours like a cat, catching Link around the waist and bearing both of them to the ground on the other side. They nearly landed on Ness and Lucas, who dove away squealing.

The football game momentarily forgotten, Ike and Pit stood up to watch, while everyone else complained as Ike's tall frame blocked their view of the screen.

In a few minutes, the two boys rolled away from each other, Link with Marth's book held triumphantly over his head (the cover page was ripped), Marth already scrambling to his feet, pushing up the sleeves on his rugby shirt as he launched into another attack.

Pit laughed, unsure of who to cheer on. The next time they broke apart, Marth held his book, and was grinning smugly. Link rubbed at a red mark on his face that looked like a rug burn, his expression fierce.

"_Rettsudansu,_" Marth chuckled, and then dashed out the door. Link, grimacing, ran after him, cussing under his breath. Ike, anticipating a good fight, ducked out the door too, meaning that Sheik and Zelda followed him, and then Peach and the Italian brothers, and so on until it was just Pit and Snake left in the room.

Pit made hesitant eye-contact with the man, then hazarded a question. "Do you know how football works?"

Snake nodded.

"Do you enjoy it?"

A shake of the head. Pit could hear shouts coming from the hallway.

"Then why are we watching this?" he asked, leaping from the bed to turn off the TV. The Packer/Viking game dissolved into static, and then faded to black. Snake was already running out the door, Pit following behind. Football was okay and all, but a Marth vs. Link fight was always going to win out.

**FARVE IS RETIRING _(again)_!**

**AND MY FINALS ARE OVER! **

**That random non-English phrase Marth said was taken from Melee, not Brawl. Whatever. Kudos to anyone who knows what he said though!**

**The Brink starts in the next chapter! WOOT! As of right now, I have no idea how long that arc's going to be…XD I guess we'll find out. I've got lots of random little scenes planned out for what I want to happen, and I can tell you now that it's going to be good. **

**Please review! It totally makes my day to read all the nice things you guys say (even if it's some criticism). :) **


	6. Chapter 6: The Brink pt 1

**Hello everyone! The long-awaited Brink is finally here! This is going to be a three or four chapter arc, depending on whether or not I decide to write a little idea I've been turning around in my head…But either way, after this is done, I'll get back to one-shots, and then do an arc, then back to one-shots, etc. until everyone gets bored or I run out of ideas, whichever happens first. XD But don't worry; hopefully that won't be for awhile.**

**A MEGA thank you to **_**ClumsyHeart17 **_**who gave me the initial idea for The Brink. I'm glad you like the Ike/Sheik paring. I was a little worried about how people would take that, but it seems to have worked out. I personally don't get the whole football thing either, but it was fun to write. XD The swordsmen are pretty awesome. I keep meaning to focus on the other characters, but they keep stealing the spotlight! Apparently people don't mind. XD**

**Another thanks to **_**River Seas**_** (new reviewer! Yay!) for your compliments, and I loved your idea for a chapter. I laughed just thinking about it. A chapter based on that will pop up after I finish The Brink arc. Thanks again!**

**A third thanks to **_**Foxpilot;**_** thank you for catching that steelers vs. stealers typo. XD As usual, I laughed out loud when I read your review. Yes, football IS (sadly) the true American sport. I think I preferred baseball, but they had steroid issues too….oi vey. ;_; Thank goodness we have brawl instead, right? XD I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**Y'know, I've never been to a place like The Brink, so I have no idea what sort of clothes they'd actually wear to it. I just made it up. XD Don't judge me too harshly on that. I just let myself get carried away. Lots of descriptions in this chapter…Hope I don't sound too wordy…**

**Disclaimer: Nobody belongs to me. They all belong to Nintendo. The only thing here that actually DOES belong to me is The Brink and their odd choice of clothes. How sad is that? **

**And with that pessimistic thought, please read on, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 6: The Brink: Part 1**

Sheik rapped on Marth's door with her knuckles which, for once, were bare.

An almost unrecognizable man opened the door, and Sheik was on the verge of asking who he was and what the heck was he doing in Marth's room? when she recognized a tint of blue in the man's hair and his azure eyes.

"What did you _do?_" she asked instead.

Marth had…she wasn't entirely sure what he had done. It looked like he had rubbed ink into his hair, dulling the bright color to the point where it looked unnatural, like he had dyed it. Only the tips had been left totally blue. Combine that with his Brink-style clothing; a tight-fitting black shirt with one sleeve pushed up to his elbow, a pair of white jeans that were just a little too loose to be called skinny with a studded belt that hung a little too low around his hips, and a black bangle around his left wrist with the Altean crest engraved into the silver piece inlaid into the cuff's center, and he hardly looked anything like his usual self. For lack of a better word, he looked punk.

Marth laughed dryly as he leaned against his doorframe, his eyes skipping down to Sheik's body for the smallest of seconds. "_You_ ask _me_ what _I've_ done?"

Sheik opened her mouth to snap back, then remembered what she was wearing and decided that she probably _was_ being a little hypocritical. At Zelda's suggestion, she had gone with a black low-cut tank top with a hot pink slash across the center. It barely covered the belt buckle of her loose-fitting cargo pants. Zelda and Samus had both been trying to talk Sheik into a mini-skirt for about a half-hour, but Sheik refused to budge. The tank-top had been a sort of compromise. That and Ike's whispered request that she unbraid her hair for once. As it was, Sheik was feeling much girlier than she cared to admit, and she didn't particularly like the way Marth was looking at her.

"Jeez, you'd think you've never seen a girl before," she blurted, and Marth quickly looked away, catching her drift.

"Hey Marth?" Quincy asked, sticking his head out into the hallway. Following Link's advice, his hat wasn't crammed over his head like usual, and his brown hair stuck up all over the place. He had worn a black short-sleeved sweater that was left unzippered. He still wore his usual blue jeans, but he still looked much darker than he usually did.

"Yeah?" Marth asked, making eye contact and smirking when the pokemon trainer blinked. "Ignore the hair thing. It washes out. How may I help you?"

"What is The Brink, exactly?"

Marth grinned. "It's absolutely crazy. Probably unlike everything you've ever done." Sheik prompted him to say more, so he continued. "The Brink is actually short for The Brink of Insanity. It's like an all ages club."

Quincy broke into a smile. "That's so cool!" Then his face fell. "Do I have to keep this a secret from my parents?"

Marth shook his head, sending dark strands of hair whirling around his face. The darkness still startled Sheik when she looked at him. "It's all totally parent-friendly. In the daytime, five-year-olds have birthday parties there."

Quincy shot an apprehensive glance at a digital clock in his room. "But we aren't going in the daytime."

"No we are not," Marth said simply. "It gets _way_ cooler at night, trust me. But your parent's don't have to worry. It's all totally safe. The bouncers are great at stopping any undesirables from getting in. No drugs, pervs, or dirty-dancing allowed." He flashed another one of his confident grins. "But you can usually get away with that third thing, if you really want to."

Sheik flicked his forehead with her index finger. "Marth! You'll freak him out!"

"Joking!" Marth had skipped backwards into his bedroom, his hands held up in denial. "I was joking!"

Pit pin-wheeled into the corridor, throwing himself into a barrel roll to make the tight corner. He liked to call himself The Blue Angel, and it remained his username on any online video game. He flipped into a landing, almost stepping on Quincy's foot. He waved at Marth and Sheik. "Almost time to go!"

"Wow," Sheik mumbled, shocked by Pit's transformation. He had abandoned his usual washed out jeans and hand-me-down T-shirts in favor of dark jeans and a crisp new T-shirt that was so white it almost glowed. Sheik could already imagine how it would look under the rave-style lights at the Brink. In his hand he held what looked like a leather jacket with some sort of design sewn into the back. Something glinted around his neck, and Sheik saw that it was a dog-tag necklace, although she couldn't see what was written on the tag.

"You're going to keep your wings inside the jacket, right?" Marth asked pointedly.

"'Course." Pit nodded enthusiastically. "Normal people are going to be there, right?"

Marth nodded. "That goes for you too, Quincy. The Brawl staff is going to be there, but there's going to be normal kids there too. Just try to blend. Wings and Pokemon appearing out of thin air do _not_ blend."

Pit smiled a very un-Pit-like smile. "Yeah, don't worry. I won't smite anyone with my awesomeness today."

Sheik shot Marth a glare. "I think you taught the kid a little too well."

Marth grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets, quickly assuming a 'who, me?' expression.

"When are we leaving?" Quincy asked excitedly, ducking out of the way as Pit stretched out his arms to shrug on his leather jacket.

"Nice," Marth chortled when he saw the design on the back of Pit's leather. It was a complicated-looking stitch pattern that resembled a pair of wings, folded up against Pit's back.

"I thought so too," Pit said modestly. "It was a compromise. You look awesome too."

"We're leaving as soon as everyone gets their act together," Sheik grumbled.

"How's the car situation working out?" Marth asked curiously.

"We've got eight people going, so we're all going to cram into a Honda pilot," Pit said. "Ike said he can drive."

"Heck no!" Marth blurted, making the 'time-out' gesture with his hands. "No way. Ike drives like a maniac. He'd kill us all."

A large hand 'thwacked' the back of Marth's head, sending him stumbling forward with a little flurry of stifled swear words.

"Do not," Ike grumbled. He stood in the hallway, wearing jeans that looked like they had been through WWII and worse. His shirt was bright red with black claw marks slashing down from his left shoulder. A single silver chain wound out from underneath his shirt hem before attaching to one of his belt loops. His hair had been smudged with dye like Marth's to make it look less unusual. Behind him, Link stood in black pants and a plain-looking T-shirt that Marth remembered to have a glow-in-the-dark insignia on the front.

"Where are the girls?" Marth asked, angrily rubbing the back of his head where Ike had hit him. "And whose car are we taking?"

Ike dangled a pair of keys smarmily in front of Marth's face. "Nintendo provided a car."

"The girls are en route," Link started to say, but was interrupted by Samus's voice correcting him with "The girls are _here._"

"….Wow," Pit managed after a minute.

"You look stunning," Marth said calmly, and everyone else instantly envied him for being able to say something like that so easily.

"Thanks," Samus answered, flipping some of her blonde hair over her shoulder. She and Zelda were both in skirts, making Sheik look a little out of place in her baggy cargo pants. The skirts were florescent; Samus's a neon blue and Zelda's a vivid purple. Zelda was wearing a spaghetti strap tank-top with the tri-force emblazoned across the chest in glow-in-the-dark lines. Samus was wearing a tight-fitting blue turtleneck, which happened to match the color of her skirt exactly. She had worn leggings underneath her skirt, and those were black, as opposed to Zelda, who had worn high socks that were striped pink and neon green like a candy-cane that had recently fallen into a barrel of radioactive waste.

"We're all here?" Ike asked, tossing the keys idly to himself. Marth made a snatch for them on the third toss, snagging the key ring with his pinkie finger. "Let's go."

Pit and Quincy, flushed with excitement, immediately started to sprint down the hallway, making a dash for the external exit that would beam them down to ground level, underneath the Brawl stage.

The older teenagers walked a bit more slowly, but they shared that same stifled excitement. As they rounded a corner, Ike body-slammed Marth into one of the walls, grabbing the car keys out of the Altean's momentarily slackened hand.

"Hey," Marth complained mildly, rubbing his shoulder. "Stop hitting me."

"Not my fault," Ike shrugged. "You keep asking for it."

Zelda jumped in-between the two before they could start grabbing for each other's necks. "Oh come on. We're about to leave. Let's not ruin your outfits by bleeding all over them, okay?"

"Ten bucks says Marth wets himself from excitement before we get out the door," Link commented sarcastically from the back of the group. Marth instantly dropped back to punch him.

Fifteen minutes and two more punches (one from Link and another from Samus) later, they were all in the car, arguing over seatbelts.

"That's mine!" Pit insisted from the back row of seats. He, Quincy, and Sheik were sharing that row. Marth, Zelda, and Link were in the middle (in that order), Ike was driving, and Samus had claimed shotgun.

The clock on the dashboard read 9:47 in its bright green numbers.

"Who's going to pull an all-nighter?" Samus asked. Everyone shouted back, "I AM!"

Ike twisted the key in the ignition, put the car into gear, and lurched it forward.

"You're doing it wrong," Marth said smarmily.

"Shut up," Ike grumbled as he reached back to cuff Marth's head. Then he remembered to take off the emergency brake. Much better.

And they were off.

…**.And there goes whatever was left of Pit's innocence. Wow…my longest chapter yet. This bodes well for the rest of the arc.**

**This is totally random information, but I had the song "More" but Usher stuck in my head the whole time I was writing, which is weird because I usually don't listen to that stuff. Oh well. It set a good mood.**

**Please review! Let me know what you think! It makes my day! :)**


	7. Chapter 7: The Brink pt 2

**HELLO! Today is a wonderful day. For some reason I'm reeeeally hyper today….Just finished the book I was reading and inked in a sketch I've been meaning to ink in for weeks and suddenly I feel light and free—aaand I'll stop ranting now. ;_; (forgive my chattering—I'm not sure what's up with me today).**

**Thank you to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Migraines suck, don't they? I'm looking forward to when you feel well enough to give me the nag-nags on anything. :) **

**Another thank you to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; I'm glad you're enjoying thus far. :) Keep reading!**

**A third thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I KNEW there was a name for the style of clothes they're all wearing! That's been bugging me for awhile, thanks. XD Link actually isn't in this chapter much, but he'll be a pivotal character in the next, so thank you for pointing out the Triforce thingy. Seeing as I'm not sure how old Ike actually is, and considering that they don't have cars in the FE universe, I very much doubt that he actually HAS a license. XD Hence Marth's concern. Don't worry, they make it to the Brink in one piece. Although that WOULD be a good idea for another chapter...**

**And a final thank you to **_**ClumsyHeart17**_**; that was the nicest review I've ever gotten. Jeez, that made me feel all fuzzy. I'm reeeeeally hoping that this chapter meets your expectations. If it doesn't, then the next one definitely will. I'm so hyper; I'm not entirely sure what happened to this thing. I blinked once and Hershel turned the whole chapter into a fluff-fest….But whatever. Hopefully I'll be more coherent on the next one. I'm glad you liked the 'candy-cane' line. XD I hope you enjoy this as well. **

**Disclaimer: None of the SSBB characters belong to me, and neither does the song **_**I Don't Wanna Be In Love**_** by Good Charlotte.**

**BTW, for some reason I couldn't do breaks, so I just put Ike's parts in bold to break things up...I hope you can tell where it switches main characters. It goes Marth, Ike, Samus, Ike, then Marth again. I hope it's not too confusing. (The others will pop up again in the next chapter, don't worry!)**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 7: The Brink: Part 2**

Forty-five minutes later, Ike turned off the central highway and onto a gravel road. The brawl complex was about sixty miles away from anything, and Ike had been breaking the speed limit the whole way.

"Dang it, Ike!" Marth hissed from the backseat, bracing himself against the window with one hand and stopping Zelda from falling onto him with the other. "The car has four wheels for a reason! They're all supposed to be touching the ground at the same time!"

"_You_ said you wanted to get there before eleven," Ike grumbled.

"I also don't want to die!"

Ike rolled his eyes. "You're such a girl, Marth."

With a 'click,' Marth undid his seatbelt and made a wild lunge for Ike, but Zelda and Link each grabbed one of his arms, tugging him back into his seat. He struggled against both of them for a minute, and then gave up, sagging back against the seat cushion, muttering something that sounded sort of like 'charizard.'

"You guys are both being idiots," Samus snapped. "Can't you act your age for once?"

Embarrassed, Marth shrank farther into his seat. In the far back, Quincy yawned.

"Do they have anything caffeinated there?" Pit asked. "I don't know if Ash and I are going to make it."

"Oh yeah," Link said matter-of-factly. "They've got a crazy variety of drinks. Anything from lemonade and apple juice to Monster and Red Bull." Seeing Pit's eyes light up, he quickly added, "But you have to be over sixteen to drink those last two."

"Aw…" Quincy and Pit pouted.

"Hey, don't feel bad," Samus laughed. "Marth isn't allowed near those drinks either after what happened last time."

Once again, Marth flushed and glared furiously out of the window.

"Is that it?" Quincy asked eagerly, kneeling up on his seat to look out the car's windshield.

"That's it," Samus nodded.

A silence suddenly choked out all noise in the car; a sort of awed and respectful silence that no one dared break. From the outside, The Brink of Insanity looked like a boring old, concrete building; similar to a storage facility. It was only the small neon sign next to the door and the telltale dull pounding of the bass that somehow penetrated to the car's interior that gave the building's identity away.

Ike tapped the gas, gently rolling the Honda into an empty parking space. All things considered, the place didn't look that crowded.

"Run free, little ones," Marth intoned in a deep voice, flinging his door open. Pit and Ash leapt over the seat, scrambling over each other to get outside. "Meet back here at sunup. Or you can come back if you get tired."

"NO WAY!" the two shouted back, already halfway to the door. Marth chuckled, and then leapt out after them, breaking into an easy sprint.

"See you in the morning!" he yelled at the five left in the van. His run left him breathing a little heavily as he reached the door that had just swung closed after Pit, but he didn't think he broke a sweat. Another benefit of living at Brawl. Everyone stayed super fit, because to get lazy was to be beaten.

The first thing that hit him when he opened the door wasn't the lights or the people or the smell even; it was just the music. He had happened to walk in right as a new song started, and the feeling was comparable to the feeling of walking into a building just as a bomb exploded. The bass itself was almost enough to knock him backwards. Combine that with the techno beats lacing through the melody, and the actual lyrics that were somehow lost in the sheer amount of noise, and Marth was completely enraptured. That was what he loved about this place; it's ability to make you forget about everything else; forget about the _world,_ just for a few hours.

It was indescribable, the feeling that came with completely letting go of everything on the dance floor.

He absolutely loved it.

**"Marth!" Ike called; just catching a glimpse of Marth's shaded hair as he disappeared into the huge mass of people writhing on the dance floor. "Dang it. He's gone." He turned around to look at Samus, who looked slightly put out at the current lack of Marth-ness. "You'll have to ask him to dance with you later."**

**"I don't want to—!" Samus hissed, her face flushing.**

**Ike pointed at his ear, unable to hear what she had just said. He beckoned Link, Zelda, and Sheik through the door and scanned the crowds vainly for Pit and Ash, but they were already gone too. He turned around to see that Samus had already run off as well. Jeez, everyone kept disappearing on him.**

**"Let's go," he said resignedly, shoving his hands into his dark jean pockets and walking straight into the bedlam.**

Samus didn't think it was possible for there to be more noise. Or more lights. Or more…anything.

Girls all around her—wearing anything from jeans and sweaters zipped up to their chins to skimpy skirts and tops that were little more than strapless bras—swung their hips and danced as easily as if they were walking on air. The boys were a bit more muted, lost in the whirlwinds of color and sound, but they were still definitely there. Mostly in black, they were there to fill in the cracks; to catch the girls when they flung themselves fearlessly into the air, to place their hands protectively over shoulders, to run their hands through the girls' hair…

Samus lost her train of thought, the words almost blasted from her very being by a particularly loud wail of electronic music.

She happened to turn to her left and found her hand tangled in the hands of a goth boy, wearing all black leather and a huge, bird-like grin on his face. Before she could politely disengage, he had gently tugged her into a twirl, and just like that they were dancing. The music swept her into the rhythm, and she was suddenly spinning in huge circles, cutting through the crowds as boys and girls alike turned to look. She felt as light as a feather, as powerful as a queen. She felt amazing.

**The girl's chattering voice was lost in the rumble of bass, but Ike was able to catch the gist of what she was saying. He shook his head rapidly; wishing he hadn't drunk that Monster about a half-hour ago. "You must be thinking of someone else."**

S**he shook her head too, sending dyed strands of green hair whirling around her face like an LED halo. "I know you! You're from Brawl, aren't you?"**

**Must be a fangirl.**

**Ike looked around, his height giving him a bit of an advantage over anyone else. Not seeing anyone to save him in the immediate vicinity, he returned his attention grudgingly to the girl before him. She was a typical Brink-er; neon tights, mini-skirt, a tank-top that barely covered the essentials, and a few glow-bracelets looped around her wrists. The light was such that he couldn't figure out exactly what color her hair was, but her eyes picked up various lights and sparkled a dull blue. She was smiling at him in a way that he couldn't quite place.**

**"You're one of the Altean dudes!" she continued brazenly.**

**Ike winced. "I grew up in Gallia. Totally different continent."**

**"Oh." She frowned, and then gently draped her arm over his shoulder. "Well, I was almost right."**

**Ike resisted the urge to brush her off. After all, dancing with a bunch of different girls was what Marth and Link enjoyed so much about this place, so why shouldn't he give it a try? He slung a hand around her back, finally deciding that her hair was a pleasant reddish color. "Almost."**

**She grinned, and Ike finally pinned down her expression as flirtatious. "Let's see if we can 'almost' have some fun tonight, okay?"**

**"Sure," Ike agreed uneasily and let her lead him onto the dance floor, unaware that Sheik had been watching from a few feet behind, a scowl on her face.**

Marth whirled around, holding hands with a bespectacled girl with mousey brown hair who had whispered in his ear a few minutes ago that her glasses were just for show. Her breath had tickled, and now he appeared to be dancing with her, although he couldn't quite remember what had enticed him towards her in the first place. All in all, she was pretty average. She wasn't even wearing a skirt.

The rave lights flared out over the audience, throwing the girl's face into red and purple shadows. She looked him over, swinging her hips slightly to the melody. "You look cool."

"You do too," he echoed automatically, unsure if she could actually hear him or not over the music. A new song came on, triggering a frenzied scream from the teenage audience. It ordered the listeners to put their hands in the air, and everyone instantly obeyed in a rare moment of group consciousness.

The girl's hands came down on Marth's shoulders, and then slid down his arms to grab his wrists. Marth's thoughts flashed away briefly, superimposing someone else's face over hers. Almost reflexively, he looked away, and his eyes caught a flash of neon blue that he recognized as Samus's turtleneck shirt. As his eyes struggled to focus in the dim lighting, he was able to make out a dark shape with her. Another guy. Dancing with her.

Dancing with her like she was his.

A spark of jealousy lit in somewhere in his chest, and the other girl with glasses suddenly seemed to fade away. He gently detangled his hand from hers, grinned apologetically, and strode away. Her hand trailed after his left wrist for a moment, but then she was gone as well.

"Samus!" Marth called, but she didn't hear him. She stepped away from the guy she was with and immediately was swept up by another boy. Marth could see the way this guy looked at her; he didn't know her at all, and she didn't care!

"Samus!" he shouted again, and she finally saw him as she spun around on a turn. The boy grabbed at her waist, but she was already jumping off the ground.

Marth stepped forward and effortlessly caught Samus around the waist, snatching her out of the air. They looked into each other's eyes for a minute, blue to blue, and whatever moment had existed between them passed.

"You looked like you were having fun," Samus said, her face flushed and her voice tinged with something that sounded a bit like annoyance.

"You too," Marth snapped back. His hands dropped to his side and clenched.

She leaned forward, standing on tiptoes so that they were eye-to-eye again. Before he had time to react, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. His hands flew up in surprise, as if he wanted to hold her there—or pry her off, he wasn't sure which—but she had already released him and was sashaying through the dancers, who parted like the Red Sea to let her through.

Marth stood there for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened to him. He absently touched his cheek with his bare left wrist, then shrugged and struck out for the drink bar, determined to wash away what had just happened with pure sugar.

Around him, everyone threw up their hands again, and there was a moment where everyone was singing along with the song's chorus;

_"Everybody put up your hands. Say I don't wanna be in love, I don't wanna be in love." _

**Yeah….Sorry again about the break/bold/thingy. If anyone can tell me how to do breaks, I will be very much obliged. **

**Just as a random nugget of info, I think Ike was doing about 80 mph on what was probably only a 45 mph country road. XD**

**Those two random fangirls won't be appearing ever again; don't worry.**

**I apologize for any OOC-ness…..I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I don't think it was my best. ;_; But there's definitely going to be two more chapters in this arc, so hopefully I'll be able to regain any lost thunder! **

**Please review—even if this chapter was horrible. Tell me what you want to see in the next one! So long as it's not totally out of the ballpark, I'll probably write about it. ;) **

**-goes to bed.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Brink pt 3

**Hello to everyone! I apologize earnestly for the wait—I had an unexpected load of homework:**

**Chinese teacher on Wednesday: **"Mouse, are you almost finished with your Chinese lantern? It's due Monday."

**Me: **"What Chinese lantern?"** I'm such a procrastinator…**

**So that's my lame excuse for not having this chapter up for awhile. It's actually been written for a few days, but I haven't been able to upload. ;_; Sorry again. **

**A big thank you to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**: Sadly, there will be no bar fight in this chapter, although I may add an extra chapter into this arc to include something like that...It's a great idea. I agree that my romance thing was way underplayed in the last chapter, but I created a reason for why it was so quick in this one, so hopefully it'll all work out and make sense. :) I go into a bit more detail on the actual layout of the Brink in this chapter (Pit's more observant than Marth, apparently XD), but for your reference, it's basically a warehouse-type building with the main exterior door on the west side, the drinks bar on the north wall, the DJ station on the east wall, and dance floor everywhere else (and there are probably bathrooms squeezed in there somewhere else too). I've worked out my timing a bit more, but it's difficult when everyone's separated as they are. ;_; I need to work on that, I know. XD Hopefully I'll get it someday! Thanks again!**

**Another thank you to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I was actually looking forward to the lecture on pencils, and I would have picked the video game binge any day as well (I have no life XD). This is hopefully going to be the last chapter where the emphasis is on the pairings. There are only going to be two more chapters in this arc, but those going to be easier to write. I think most of the problems I've had with this arc originate from the fact that I have next to no experience in that area…hmm…Oh well. I hope you enjoy this chapter nonetheless. **

**A third thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; I'm glad you're still enjoying. :) Keep reviewing! It's awesome!**

**And a final thanks to **_**ClumsyHeart17**_**; HOLY COW. I feel loved. :D That was so awesome! GO COCONUTS (but are they migratory?)! I'm so glad that you're enjoying this, and I really hope I can keep my style up. :) As I said, I actually do give a reason for why the kiss was so abrupt, but I'm not sure if I like the way I worked it out…Oh well. Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the rest of this arc. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any SSBB characters, Journey (the band), Rockstar (like the energy drink), Monster, Mountain Dew, or Red Bull…..I think that's it. Oh, and Kesha. I obviously don't own Kesha. **

**Oh, right! I apologize in advance for Marth's lame pickup line. ;_; **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review to tell me if you enjoyed! **

**Chapter 8: The Brink: Part 3**

"Hey!" Pit called over the music, seeing Marth slouch from the crowds, a weird expression on his face. "Marth! Over here!"

Marth glanced towards Pit and Quincy, accepting a cup of greenish liquid that seemed to glow gently in the flashing lights.

"Are you sure you should be drinking that?" Quincy asked, tugging on his brown hair as if a hat would materialize out of nowhere to cover it.

Marth downed the whole glass in one gulp and sent it skittering back across the bar-like table for a refill. "Why not? I'm over sixteen, aren't I?"

There was a group of seven or eight adults who were working the bar; they were the closest thing besides the bouncers that the Brink had to adult supervision. Basically their only job was to pour drinks and keep seven-year-olds away from the Red Bull. Unlike everyone else, they dressed in tan pants and long-sleeve shirts, looking more like caddies at a golf course than bartenders at a kid's-club. One of them gave Marth a quick once-over as he gave him the second drink.

"Jeez, you look at me like I'm downing a Bloody Mary," Marth complained as he glared at Pit. "It's just Monster."

"But didn't Samus say you couldn't drink that stuff?" Pit asked.

The side of Marth's mouth twitched as he finished his second drink and he crumpled the plastic cup in his hand before hurling it into a conveniently placed garbage can.

"Did something happen…?" Quincy asked hesitantly, suppressing a grin.

Marth glanced out onto the dance floor and caught a glimpse of Samus dancing with someone else. Someone tall. He frowned for a second, and then flashed a slightly crazed smile at Pit. "No, nothing happened. Why would you think that?" Without another word, he turned on his heel and struck up a conversation with a short and slightly sweaty-looking girl who had just come off the dance floor. Pit heard him say, "Hey Angel, are you okay? Because heaven's a long fall from here," in a ridiculously serious voice, his expression one of someone who wanted to pretend that the last fifteen minutes or so hadn't happened.

"Wow," Quincy laughed. "That was lame."

The girl seemed to buy it and let Marth sling a hand around her waist.

"Wow," Pit agreed, looking up at the ceiling beams for lack of anything else to look at. For all intents and purposes, The Brink was sort of like a big barn. A barn with a scarred, cup-ringed floor, exposed beams, and a pointed ceiling. And laser lights. Lots and lots of laser lights.

Quincy gave up the moment Marth left and burst into barely smothered giggles. "She did it! She actually did it!"

"I know!" Pit giggled. "I can't believe she did it."

Unbeknownst to Marth; Samus, Link, Ike, Pit, and Quincy had all accidentally convened at the drinks bar shortly after arriving at The Brink. Samus and Ike had gotten into a brief drinking contest, Ike winning by one Monster when Samus complained that she was getting a sugar headache. Pit had figured that they both drank at least twice their daily allowance of sugar and watched them carefully for a few minutes, wondering who would pass out first, and observed that Samus's hands shook a little and the usually-silent Ike suddenly became a chatterbox. The once-intelligent conversation had eventually dissolved into a childish truth-or-dare game.

It was fairly obvious what happened next.

"I can't believe she actually did it!" Quincy cried hysterically, sinking against the floor as he tried to control his laughter. "I can't believe…!"

"Yeah, we get it," Pit cut across, growing a bit frustrated with Quincy's apparent inability to stay up past his bedtime. Pit glanced at a neon clock hung over the bar table. 2:52. They still had a long ways to go before sunup.

A slow-dancing song came on; the sort that everyone could sing along with.

"Oh hey!" Pit said, sounding surprised with himself. "I know this song."

"Do you?" the ever in-the-dark Quincy asked. "I don't."

"_For a smile that can share the night, it goes on and on and on and on…_" Pit sang absently, drawing the attention of a girl with a tunic-like shirt with the name of a band slashed across the front. She wore tight leggings underneath, and a ridiculous amount of glitter makeup.

"You sing well," she said, her voice muffled as she held a can Rockstar up to her lips to sip at the liquid inside delicately.

"Thanks…?" Pit asked. Quincy snorted something behind his hand, but Pit didn't catch it.

"Do you want to dance?" the girl asked, jerking a thumb towards the floor.

Pit tried not to flinch. He stretched his wings a little in his leather jacket, wishing that he could throw them out and fly away instead of dance with this Kesha-wannabe.

"Go!" Quincy urged, standing up to give Pit a little shove in the small of his back, right where his wings met his shoulders.

Pit stumbled forward, giving Quincy the best death glare he could muster, and then squeamishly let the girl take his hand, wondering how she managed to go through her daily activities without breaking off her freakishly long nails.

Quincy realized belatedly after Pit had been dragged into what was fast becoming a mosh-pit (pun unintended) that he was left all alone. He quickly scanned around, looking for some group to hook into.

Link appeared, tugged Zelda out of the crowds, his face illuminated by the dull glow emanating from his and Zelda's T-shirts. Unlike Zelda's Triforce, Link's glow-in-the-dark T-shirt had the radioactive symbol emblazoned across the front. When they stood next to each other, their combined glow was enough to turn both of their faces and odd green color that made them look mildly sick.

"Link!" Quincy shouted, barely hearing himself over the borderline-screamo song that had replaced Journey. Link grabbed Zelda's hands, encouraging her to twirl around a final time before they were free of the last ring of dancers.

"LINK!" Quincy roared, waving his arms and jumping…just like everyone else. He would have stood out more if he stood stock still. Link and Zelda were moving over to the other side of The Brink, pointing to someone in the crowd and giggling about it together.

Giving up, the pokemon trainer glared out into the audience, squinting into the pink and blue lights that flashed across his face, making him see spots. He caught a brief glimpse of Marth with both hands in the air and bobbing his head to the beat, his hair flying around his face in a blue and black halo. Both of the sleeves on his black shirt were pushed up now, and while Quincy distinctly remembered Marth wearing his Altean bangle earlier, he didn't have it on now. He may have been singing along—or he could have just been mouthing the words. It was impossible to tell.

Sheik and Samus were nowhere to be seen, and Ike…

"Hey kiddo," came a deep voice from over Quincy's shoulder. The pokemon trainer made a sound similar to the sound one would expect a hamster to make if you poked it very unexpectedly.

"OHMYGOSH!" he gasped, scrambling up from his knees, having just fallen over in shock. "Don't do that!"

Ike chuckled, raking sweaty hair away from his forehead and then tugging the hem of his shirt up to wipe his face. "Why not? You can't be so uptight here. Takes away all the fun."

"You looked like you were having a lot of fun earlier," Quincy pointed out. "Did you even know that girl-you-were-dancing-with's name?"

Ike smirked. "Lisa. She seemed nice enough."

"Nice is one word for it," Sheik said, appearing over Ike's shoulder. Ike made the weird hamster noise—except an octave lower, spinning on his heel to find Sheik's red eyes boring holes into his. "She was totally all over you. I thought they didn't allow dirty dancing here."

Ike, buzzed on sugar, didn't pick up the harsh tone in Sheik's voice. "On the plus side," he rambled, oblivious to her mood. "Samus fulfilled her dare. Marth was yakking about it when I saw him about ten minutes ago. He got shaken up—he thought she was for real."

"Yeah, girls can be really confusing," Sheik grumbled. "Or maybe it's just that guy's can't see a good thing when they have it."

Quincy winced; the situation was way too awkward for his tastes. "Hey Sheik, do you know where Link and Zelda went?"

Sheik jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "I think they went out to the car. Don't ask me what for, because I have no idea and I_ really_ don't want to find out."

"O-oh…." Quincy stuttered. "Okay." That only left one last escape route. "I'm going to go dance!"

Both of them raised their eyebrows in a 'seriously?' expression that made Quincy wonder what Pit had told them about his dancing skills, or complete lack thereof.

"Right," he said again, clapping his hands as if to wake himself up. "I'll see you two later." Barely suppressing a sigh of relief, he turned towards the dance floor, immediately lost his nerve, and detoured to the side, hoping to see someone he knew.

"Hey," someone called, and he turned to see a familiar girl waving him down.

"Nya!" he laughed, breaking into a grin. "You're here!"

"Hi Trainer," she teased. "You look different without your hat and the mouse."

"It's a Pikachu," Quincy defended, feeling a small twang of loyalty for the pokemon. "Not a mouse."

"I know," she smiled. "It's the electric mouse pokemon, right? I played the games when I was little. You want to dance?"

Quincy took a step back, smiling bashfully as he stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets. "No thanks. It would end in chaos and mayhem."

Nya gestured out towards the dance floor, which was such a blur of people that it was hard to distinguish anything other than sheer mass. "And how is the current situation any different?"

Quincy laughed, taking a bold step forward, feeling the caffeine from a Mountain Dew buzzing in the back of his head, shutting down his instinct for self-preservation. But who cared? He could be reckless for one night. "Good point."

**Yep. The end product of about a week of procrastination. I hope it wasn't that bad…It focused a lot on Pit and Quincy, which people seem to like, but there wasn't a whole lot of character development. The next chapter will be more interesting, I swear (it's possibly including _Diagon The Uber Lord of Lawlz's_ suggested bar fight). The next chapter, and then the last chapter (which conveniently takes me up to chapter 10), and I'm done with my first arc! Woot! **

**Please review and let me know what you think. :)**


	9. Chapter 9: The Brink pt 4

**Hello to everyone! A happy Thursday to you all! Who else got nailed with that midwest blizzard?**

**I have loads of thanks this time (holy cow, I think this is the most I've ever had for one chapter), so unfortunately I won't be able to respond to everyone in the same detail here. If you have something specific you really want to make sure I respond to, you can send me a message, otherwise I'll just keep doing my best. :) I'm so happy that I have all these reviews! You guys are all **_**awesome**_**.**

**Thanks to **_**Marikio Midori**_**; Marth in fact has no idea what he's doing. XD I'm glad you're enjoying. **

**Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I always love your reviews (I've said this before...). You totally nailed it. XD Please keep reviewing (And yes, my Chinese teacher calls me Mouse. She says it's easier to remember than my actual name. XD)**

**Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; I'm glad you're still enjoying; procrastinators are the leaders of tomorrow, aren't they? XD**

**Thanks to **_**anomymous**_**; I hope the bar fight is enjoyable. There won't really be a competition here, but something like that will probably pop up later. I hope you like it anyway. :)**

**To **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; I'm glad you liked it. XD I ripped off another song from the 80s, I'm hoping that someone here actually knows what I'm talking about…I hope you enjoy the bar-fight (it's not as much of a fight as a skirmish, actually…). **

**To **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; hey, if I can read it, I won't mind your spelling. :) That's a terrific idea. It'll pop up sometime in the future. Please keep reading! :)**

**And finally, to **_**Araceli L**_**; (username change,**_** ClumsyHeart17**_**?) Don't worry about apologizing. :) The pairings aren't concrete, so don't worry. Things will get mixed up in the background. There will also be more Ike soon, so your fangirliness (that's_ totally_ a word XD) will be satisfied. I'm so glad you liked it!**

**Disclaimer(s): I do not own SSBB or anything within that universe. I also don't own the J. Geils Band or their song "Centerfold." That song's been stuck in my head for DAYS, so I figured—what the heck, I'll stick it in my fanfiction. **

**Please read, enjoy and then review!**

**Chapter 9: The Brink: Part 4**

Marth turned, distracted, thinking that he heard someone call his name. After a few minutes, he caught sight of Sheik wading her way through the crowds towards him, her hair floating out in a lank cloud behind her. He detangled himself from the hands that pressed on his shoulders, looped through his arms, and smacked away a hand that was starting to inch towards more personal areas, giving the owner a fierce look that send them scampering away, face red.

"What's up?" Sheik called over the music. "Having fun?"

Marth tossed his head to flip strands of hair out of his face. "Sort of. Have you seen Samus? I need to hit her."

"Whoa, wait." Sheik made the 're-wind' gesture with her hands. "The music must be too loud. It almost sounded like you said you wanted to hit her."

Marth shoved his left sleeve up to his shoulder, letting the right hang limply over his hand. "Yeah, that's what I said. She was screwing around with me, so now I need to get back."

"Yeah, but…hit her?" Sheik asked. "Isn't that a little…extreme? Can't you just stick ice cubes down her back or something?"

"That'd work too," Marth said, nodding absently. He rammed both hands in his jean pockets as he rocked back on his heels in time to the music, making the hem of his jeans slip down just past his hips.

"Belts need to be buckled for them to work," Sheik pointed out, pointing at the black strip that might as well have been hanging around Marth's knees for all the good it was actually doing him.

"Whatever. I need to hit Samus."

"Who told you that she was just messing around?" Sheik asked curiously.

Marth rolled his eyes, still bobbing his head to the techno song that lanced the air with its static melody. "Ike. Monster is his equivalent of truth serum. I was complaining and he told me about the truth-or-dare thing." He shot a sideways glance at her as everyone screamed at The Brink's ceiling. "Link and Zelda apparently fulfilled their dares already, but you still have yours, right?"

Sheik flushed, and she was suddenly grateful of a red spotlight that had been blinding her this whole time because it meant Marth couldn't see. "Shut up," she managed to mutter after a moment.

Marth pointed at his ear, his face eerily calm as he stalked off towards the drinks table, possibly to get his hands on some ice cubes. Sheik instantly regretted giving him that idea, although it was probably better to do that than actually hit her.

A hand caught her waist, pulling her against a broad chest.

"What's up?" Ike asked cheerfully.

"Ew," Sheik grumbled, trying to avoid actual skin-to-fabric contact. "You shirt's all gross."

"Like yours isn't?" he countered, plucking at the damp strap of her tank-top. He had obviously meant the touch to be casual, but Sheik still scowled, used to being covered head to toe in fabric instead of her current outfit.

Ike, buzzing down from his sugar-high, was able to read her eyes enough to take a step back, a bashful grin on his face. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay," Sheik sighed, flicking a piece of hair over her shoulder and wondering what was so special about it that Ike didn't want her to put the whole bunch in a ponytail.

"Come on," Ike said, suppressing a yawn. "I need more caffeine. And I want to see what happened to Samus and everyone."

Sheik pressed her lips together, wondering if Marth had found any ice cubes yet.

As they neared the drink table, is became apparent that he had. And he had shared. Link and Marth were laughing with the abandon of people who had drank too much Monster and stayed up a little too late, working together to corner Zelda and Samus in the corner. The adults at the bar just rolled their eyes and kept scrubbing the glasses, turning a blind eye because they were probably the ones who had given Marth the ice cubes in the first place.

"Hey!" Ike roared, a cocky grin appearing on his face. "You don't gang up on girls like that."

Marth and Link turned, a flash of light momentarily blinding Ike as something on Link's person caught a rave light.

"Two on one is _not_ fair!" he managed, blinking dazedly, and then they were upon him, their weight bearing him to the ground.

"Fight fight fight!" some nearby dancers started the chant, which was quickly picked up across the whole Brink.

"Sheik!" Ike called, trying to twist Marth's arm behind his back while stopping Link from grabbing his shirt collar with the other hand; a feat that's much easier said than done. "Your dare! Help me!"

Sheik made a disgruntled sound, wishing that she hadn't been drawn into that stupid game. But she had been the one who dared Link and Zelda to go out to the car, so they had been able to dare her back. And her dare—of all the stupid dares—….had been to get in a catfight.

"You guys aren't girls!" she called desperately, all too aware that everyone was watching them with a mixture of awe and amusement.

"Marth is," Ike pointed out, scowling as Marth escaped his hold and rolled away.

"Am not!" Marth hollered.

"Come on, Sheik," Samus called, jumping away from the wall and snatching a water bottle off of the bar table.

Slightly encouraged by the thought of Samus joining the fray with her, Sheik leapt fearlessly at Link, catching him around the waist and yanking him off of Ike. Her reward was a cold chunk of ice slipped down the back of her shirt.

It was _on_ now….

She heard an exclamation of surprise from Marth and Ike and twisted to see Samus casually standing over them, dumping her water bottle on their heads.

"Break it up," one of the bartenders muttered, looking like he was debating if it was safe to actually try and separate everyone.

"Alright, we're done," Link laughed, then stood up to offer Sheik a hand up.

Sheik let the semi-melted ice cube slip into her palm, then tucked it into the top of his jeans as she stood. He winced, and then scowled darkly at her. "That was low."

She grinned at him, unrepentant. Brushing past him, she caught a splash of water as Marth shook his head like a dog, sending water flying everywhere. Samus laughed and stepped out of range, just in time to have Ike do the same thing, soaking her shirt.

Sheik walked up to Marth and slapped his shoulder.

"What was that—?" he started, but Sheik grinned at Ike and said, "There, I was in a catfight. It wasn't official until I slapped a girl."

Marth rolled his eyes. "What is so hard to get about this? I'm a _boy._ I think you need to have a little lesson in anatomy if you're still confused."

"Hey, some people think Sheik's a boy," Zelda pointed out.

Sheik winced. "We aren't going there."

"You started it," Marth grumbled, rubbing a hand through his hair and looking interestedly at his black-smudged hand. It took Sheik a minute to realize that the dye in his hair must be coming out.

Quincy and Pit flew out from the crowd (not literally, of course), huge grins on their faces. "That was so awesome!" they chorused.

Link ruffled Pit's hair affectionately. "How long were you guys watching?"

"We saw the whole thing," Quincy supplied.

Ike reappeared (no one had really noticed his disappearance) with eight cups of Monster. The clock above the bar read 5:07.

"We aren't allowed to drink this…" Pit muttered as Marth passed him a cup.

"It's not like we're pushing booze on you or anything," Link pointed out, toasting everyone as he downed his glass. Marth held his glass out as well, and soon everyone was toasting and Link quickly got a refill so that he could join in again.

Zelda touched her cup to Ike's and said "clink," when there was no noise. There was a quick chorus of "clinks" and everyone drained their glasses, all grinning, sweaty, and suddenly feeling incredibly satisfied. Must be a side effect of a sugar overdose.

"This place is awesome," Quincy said quietly, his cheeks flushed. "This was so cool."

"I've had better trips," Samus shrugged. "Without all the awkwardness." Marth and Ike nodded, and Sheik quickly looked elsewhere.

"Ladies and gentleman," the DJ called from the dance floor. Marth and Ike instantly looked at each other and chuckled "yeah right," in unison. Zelda elbowed Ike because he was closer, and then reached down to pull up her vibrant socks, which had slipped almost all the way down to her ankles during the night.

"Regrettably," the DJ continued, "It has come time for our last dance, so that all of you lazy kids can get back home before six. For the last song, we've chosen one I'm sure you'll all enjoy."

"It's going to be a 80s song," Link muttered. "Great. So much for this ending on a good note."

"Keep an open mind," Marth suggested.

"I give you, _'Centerfold.'_ Some of you might not know this song—it's a bit before your time."

"Called it," Link grumbled.

"But I assure you that you'll pick it up soon enough. Don't hesitate to sing along," the DJ concluded. "Thank you for choosing to spend your night at The Brink!"

The song started with a clapping pattern that was instantly picked up through the crowds, and there wasn't a single person there who wasn't bobbing their heads.

It _was_ a traditional 80s song, and it was met with glazed eyes from the majority until the refrain came on.

With next to no warning, the crowd exploded into a final frenzy, throwing everything they had left into belting out the lyrics as loud as they could. The air seemed to crackle with a real energy as people abandoned the club-style dancing in favor of old school partner dancing with lots of twirling and singing and laughing. The chorus was mainly just a bunch of 'na's strung together, and, as the DJ promised, everyone had picked it up by its first run through.

Everyone forgot that they were tired. Everyone forgot anything that had gone wrong. For a few blessed minutes, everyone was just able to _be_.

The song seemed to come to an end, and the energy seemed to deflate a little. Someone who had obviously heard the song before roared "It's not over!" eliciting a huge scream of approval from everyone there. Laser lights put on one final performance for the night, dancing over the crowd like a multi-colored net, binding them together for just a few minutes.

As promised, the song kicked up again, with an encore of the refrain that was now engraved permanently into everyone's brain. The energy swelled to the point where one could almost taste it, swirling around the building and nestling in everyone's hearts, creating everlasting memories.

And at last, it trailed off, drums and guitar and finally vocals disappearing into nothing; leaving only a single person whistling the melody for a few minutes before that too, disappeared.

Time to face the world again.

**And with that, I _almost_ conclude my first arc (they still have to get home XD). I'm sticking an extra chapter in to include a little scene I've had in my head the whole time I've been writing this arc, and there was never time for it until now. Besides, I sort of want to see what happens when a sugar-high Ike tries to drive everyone home….XD **

**Oh BTW; happy Chinese New Year. Year of the rabbit begins today!**

**Please review! It makes my day!**


	10. Chapter 10: The Brink pt 5

**Happy Day-Before-The-Superbowl! Did anyone besides me notice that Link's and Marth's favorite teams are playing? XD I swear I didn't plan that. Wonder who'll win...**

**Once again; lots of thanks to give out (You guys really are awesome!).**

**Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; I'm glad I could make you laugh. I also really liked your suggestion. :)**

**Thanks to **_**Mariko Midori**_**; Yes, the guys are idiots. XD I'm glad you enjoyed.**

**Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; The car ride's more 'groggy' than 'interesting,' but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. XD The Red Bull thing WILL be coming back eventually. :)**

**Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Ike's actually going to hit his sugar crash about halfway through the car ride. XD I had fun writing this, and I hope you have fun reading it. XD I only knew about the New Year because I take Chinese, otherwise I'd have no idea. XD I'm glad you enjoy.**

**Thanks to **_**TriforceOfAwesome**_**; Thank you so much for the compliments. :) I was a little worried when I started reading your review, but I'm glad you enjoy it! I hope I can keep it up!**

**Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; I love the word awesometasticful! XD Thank you so much!**

**And thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; In retrospect, the can of Monster in someone's face would have been great…Maybe in a later chapter. XD (something tells me it's going to be Marth who gets hit). I'm glad you enjoyed, and there will be some good/better fight scenes coming up (in the next chapter or so, I think). :)**

**Disclaimer(s): I do not own SSBB, Honda, or **_**The Weepies**_** (Which, contrary to their name, isn't an emo band or anything) and their song "World Spins Madly On." Now we can proceed with our lives knowing that I own none of these things. Yay.**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 10: The Brink: Part 5**

"Would you please stop humming?" Sheik snapped in Link's direction. Link made a rude hand gesture back at her when she turned around, causing Marth to smack his shoulder.

"Ow," Link complained mildly, rubbing his arm.

"Look, we _all_ have that song stuck in our heads," the Altean sighed. "And you humming the tune isn't exactly helping."

A few tinges of pink were starting to peek over the mostly dark horizon, silhouetting a tiny floating dot in the distance that was the Brawl stadium. Ike squinted in the dim light to see the Honda's keyhole, slotting a key in and giving it a sharp turn. The lights beeped, and Ike yanked open the driver's door. "Come on. I'd like to get home before seven."

"Are you good for driving?" Samus asked, dodging Marth as he somehow mustered enough energy to make a leap for the passenger seat. In all honestly, she didn't mind losing shotgun. Odds were she was going to sleep most of the way back anyway.

"I'll be fine," Ike said. "If we get home before I crash."

"I hope you mean before you have your sugar crash," Pit muttered hazily as he scrambled into the far backseat. Once there, he shrugged off his leather jacket and stretched his wings a little, sighing in relief as he did so. "Not, you know, an _actual_ crash."

"Can I just ride back in the trunk?" Link asked, eyeing the back of the car. "So I can stretch out my legs?"

"The thing's about four feet wide, Link," Sheik pointed out sleepily as she settled into the middle row with Samus and Zelda. "I don't think you'd be able to stretch anything."

"I can think of a few things I could stretch," Link grumbled, pulling the back door down over himself.

"Isn't that ille—" Marth started, then cut himself off, rolling his eyes and muttering "never mind."

Ike turned the key in the ignition and made a point of removing the parking brake, grinning hugely at Marth as he did so, daring him to say something. Marth didn't rise to the bait; he was looking out of the window. After a minute he scowled and flipped the sun visor down to shield his eyes from the sliver of sun peeking over the horizon.

"I want breakfast," Quincy whined weakly from the backseat.

"Kid, it's not even six yet," Samus pointed out.

"I'm sure they'll have breakfast ready for us when we get back," Zelda said soothingly. "Maybe you can get some sleep between now and then, so you aren't so tired."

Quincy was already curled up against the window, his brown eyes blinking more and more regularly. Pit's head had lolled against his headrest, his chest rising and falling steadily, his leather jacket thrown backwards over his shoulders like a blanket. Zelda smiled at both of them before turning back around to face the front of the car.

"Don't speed this time," Marth mumbled, sounding like he was already half-asleep. "I'd rather not wake up in a hospital, thanks."

"It's not fair that you all get to sleep and I have to drive," Ike complained. "I'm just as tired as you are, and I can't pass out."

"Well, isn't your life just sucky?" Marth whispered, his voice barely audible over the purr of the engine. Ike shot him a look that didn't work because Marth's eyes were closed. Keeping an eye on the road, he reached over to cuff Marth's head, rolling his eyes when some of the prince's hair dye smeared onto his palm. Marth chuckled darkly and then turned towards the window, a smug grin still on his face as he settled down for a nap.

Pit and Quincy were already passed out, the pokemon trainer curled up against the window and Pit sprawled in an uncomfortable-looking position across the rest of the seat, his seat belt the only thing keeping him from falling off. Zelda was leaning on Sheik's shoulder, dozing. Sheik didn't look pleased, but hadn't shoved Zelda off yet. Samus was looking out of the window, her eyes glazed over.

A thick silence enveloped the car for almost forty-five minutes. Ike worked hard to suppress his yawns and keep his attention on the road. To his credit, the needle on the speed dial never went above fifty; seeing that it was a forty mph road.

Pit suddenly sleep-mumbled something in the back that sounded like 'pizza,' shifting so that his jacket flopped onto the car's floor with a soft 'whap' noise. The sound was enough to rouse Link, and Ike heard him let out a low, miserable moan from the trunk.

"_Please _tell me you're not carsick," Ike pleaded. "We're almost back." Marth blinked sleepily and sat up straight, peering into the rearview mirror to see what was going on.

Link's tussled head poked up from the trunk. He gestured angrily at his right wrist, which was encircled with a black band that hadn't been there at the beginning of the night. "This isn't mine!" he snapped, pointing at the bracelet.

Ike rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh. "Of course it is. Why would you be wearing someone else's bracelet?"

Link shrugged, then flung out his arms to keep his balance as Ike turned onto a different road. Once he regained his balance, he threw his wrist forward to display the black bangle there. "I don't know, but I'm wearing it now, and I don't own anything like this!"

"A fangirl probably slipped it on as a token of her love," Sheik said wisely. "Can I see it?"

"It's a_ guy's _bracelet!" Link cried.

"Ooh," Marth crooned sarcastically. "Link, I never knew you were into that sort of stuff."

"Shut up!" Link blurted, his face going bright red. "I had no idea how this got here!"

Quincy peeled his face off of the window, blinking his brown eyes dazedly. "Wa's goin' on?"

"Link's having issues," Ike explained. "He's wearing a bracelet that's not his."

Sheik had taken off her seatbelt and was looking at Link's arm that was hanging over the seat. "Yeah, you're right, that's a guy's bracelet." She turned back around to face the front of the car. "Hey Marth, weren't you wearing something like this earlier?"

Marth shot a glance at the black band. "Yeah, but I've got mine right…" His hand pulled up the left sleeve of his shirt to find nothing. His blue eyes flew up to Link's. "What's on the bangle?" he demanded.

"Oh," Link scoffed. "Suddenly it's a 'bangle' not a 'bracelet.' Much more manly that way."

"What's on it?" Marth repeated, his eyes flashing in the sunrise.

Ike pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a sleep-deprived/sugar/lots-of-other-things headache coming on.

Link squinted at the bracelet, holding it up to the window to reveal a silver piece set in the center. "It's a crest, I think."

Marth made an animalistic noise and sagged in his seat. "Dang. That's mine."

"I had no idea you were into that sort of stuff," Ike said coolly.

Marth smacked his shoulder hard enough to sting. "_I_ didn't put it there!"

"Then how'd it end up on my wrist?" Link shouted.

"How am I supposed to know?" Marth shouted back. Zelda woke up with a jerk, her eyes wide and questioning. Sheik started whispering what had happened in her ear. Pit remained asleep.

Samus, who had been staring out the window trying to preserve those memories of an hour ago when they had all been _getting along_, looked over at Marth. "Hey, what about that girl you were dancing with?"

"I danced with a lot of girls," Marth said nonchalantly. "Which one?"

"The one with glasses. I thought I saw her do something to your hand."

Marth thought back, working hard to remember the girl's face, much less what she had done with his hand. Vague impressions were all he had of her; jeans, brown hair, green eyes under her fake glasses…And the moment he left her, he remembered her hand trailing across his wrist; removing a weight from it.

"You're right!" he said, snapping his fingers as he remembered. "I bet she took it!" He whirled on Link. "Did you ever dance with a girl with glasses? Brown hair, no dress…"

Link shook his head. "I didn't really dance with anyone." Marth scowled. "Oh! But…" Link looked at Zelda for support. "There was this one girl when we went out to the car. She asked if I was Link, remember?"

"She had glasses," Zelda nodded, absently braiding a strand of her hair. "And I think she was wearing jeans."

Everyone lapsed into thoughtful silence. Finally, Link managed to say, "She sure got around."

Marth laughed weakly, and then twisted around so that he could look Link in the eye. "Sorry about that. I'm tired and I wasn't thinking about what I said."

"Yeah, me too." Link nodded as he tugged Marth's bangle off of his wrist and threw it towards the prince, making sure to throw it high enough that it wouldn't clip any of the girls. Marth snatched it out of the air and traced the design on the silver piece absently, his eyes losing their focus for a moment. Link settled back down in the trunk, pillowing his head with his hands. If he drew his knees up to his chest, he could almost lie comfortably on his side.

Ike, fighting to stay coherent, reached for the radio dial on the dashboard, finding an fm station and not caring that he didn't know the song on it.

"You listen to this?" Samus couldn't help asking.

"No," Ike sighed, forcing himself to focus on the last stretch of road underneath the Brawl stadium. He would never hear the end of it if he crashed the car at this stage. Music floated dimly into his muddled consciousness as he slowed the car down and started to park it.

'_Woke up, and wished that I was dead_

_With an aching in my head'_

Ike grimaced as he winched the gear shift into park and started to turn the car off.

'_And the world spins madly on.'_

"Yes it does," Ike said to himself, yanking the keys out of the ignition and starting to open his door. Marth stepped out onto the grass as well, rolling his neck to relieve any cricks in it. When he caught Ike looking at him, he grinned serenely—or he could have just been exhausted and smiling like an idiot. One of the two.

Sheik helped a sluggish Zelda out of the car, supporting her by her elbow. She shot Ike a hopeful smile when he met her eyes. Samus was looking across the car at Marth and looked very out of things. They _all_ looked very out of things. Quincy—as he climbed out of the backseat after Pit—looked like he was about to fall asleep on his feet. Link tumbled out of the trunk, rising drunkenly to his feet to glare at the sun that had painted the sky a magnificent mural of pinks and oranges.

Marth stretched his arms out, and then started out towards the entrance that was basically a little patch of grass that would beam one up into the complex. "Wake me up when it's dinnertime," he said sleepily.

Pit and Quincy staggered after him, Pit's jacket slung over his shoulders like a black cape. Ike and Link followed the girls in, Ike taking a last admiring look at Sheik's blonde hair even as she started to wind it up into her usual braid.

"Doesn't part of you wish that you could just stay like…this?" Link asked, gesturing to everything around himself.

"Sure, a bit," Ike shrugged. "But you can't."

"No," Link muttered through a yawn. "You can't."

_The world spins madly on._

**My first arc is done! WOOT! HALLELUJIAH! **

**This is kind of irrelevant, but I had an experience similar to this on a youth trip I went on this summer; we had one more person then we had seats in the van, so one of the guys had to squeeze in the trunk. XD It was insane; we were all crazy on sugar and he kept freaking out cars behind us by sticking his head up and shouting 'Peek-a-boo' as loudly as he could. I could've had Link do that, but they were on a pretty quiet road anyway, and I wanted to do the bracelet mix up thing. Forgive me. ;_;**

**FYRI (for your random information): The next chapter is going to be **_**River Seas**_** request chapter. :) (Should I start doing previews like this for every chapter?)**

**Please review to tell me what you thought!**


	11. Chapter 11: Video Games

**This might be a bad idea: posting on Superbowl night, but whatever; here we go! You know the drill! **

**Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0;**_** I'm sorry about The Game thing. XD I couldn't resist. I'm so glad you're entertained. There will be lots more coming; and I hope you stay amused!**

**Thanks #2 goes to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; Yes, it's a real song. You should youtube it; it's a catchy song. Thanks so much for reading!**

**A third thank you to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Thank you SO much! I've filed that idea away for a future chapter; it'll pop up eventually. ;) Marth OFTEN seems to set himself up for things, doesn't he? It's part of his charm. I'll start doing previews at the end of each chapter, and I hope you continue to enjoy! **

**Fourth thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; I LOVE that word. You cannot help but love Marth. He's one of the main characters in this chapter too, so I hope you're amused. Here's your speedy update!**

**And a final thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Packers FTW, right (I'm going to get shot for saying that…XD)? I'll admit that my ending was sort of anti-climatic; part 4 was really supposed to be the finale, but Hershel was pushing the bangle idea and I figured; why not? Thank you for all the compliments, and yes, I'm taking requests (unless it's something I don't write, like yaoi or something ;_;). **

**So here we go; **_**River Seas**_** request chappie. He/she wanted a chapter where Link walks in and hits the reset button on Marth's Wii. So here you go! Some Link and Marth fluff for ya (and a bit of sleepy-Ike fluff too).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB, Call of Duty, Twilight Princess, iPods, or anything Nintendo/gadget-y related. I don't technically even own this computer… (it's my dad's). Somehow, typing that makes me feel sad...;_;**

**This was written in the span of about a half-hour, so please point out any errors that I missed. XD**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review! **

**Chapter 11: Video Games**

That same day, after lunch, Link padded down the hallway in just a pair of sweatpants and an old T-shirt with an ad for some bar back in Hyrule, his feet bare and his hair rumpled. Having slept from almost the moment he got back until about twenty minutes ago, whereupon he had dragged himself out of bed to get something to eat, he felt relatively good considering that he had stayed up the entire previous night.

In the cafeteria, he had met up with Sheik and Samus; the only others from the Brink group who were awake. Ike, Marth, Zelda, Quincy, and Pit were all nowhere to be seen, so now Link was on an expedition to find them. Obviously, he couldn't peek into Zelda's room to see if she was there, so he was focusing his attention on the other four.

Bobbing his head to the music blaring through his headphones, he rapped on Ike's door. It was easy to remember which room out of the long line of plain white doors was Ike's because it had a huge slash down the middle from last year when Marth had thrown a sword at it.

"Go away…" came the pillow-muffled voice from inside.

"Hey Ike?" Link asked, letting his headphones hang around his neck and fighting to stifle his laughter. "Remember that car? Apparently you scraped the paint off one side. Nintendo's pretty ticked."

Something heavy hit the other side of the door, rattling the hinges. "That's your head if you don't go away, Link," Ike growled.

"Touchy," Link complained, stepping smartly away from the door. He hoped that Marth would yield less violent results. Marth's room was easy to pick out of the lineup too—he had a sign taped up that read 'If the music is too loud—you're too old.' "Marth?"

"Yes, what of it?" Marth called back, sounding very much awake. Link opened the door cautiously, wondering what he was doing.

"I don't remember saying you could come in," the Altean said tersely, sitting up with his back against his bed frame, holding a wiimote and a nunchuck in his hands, occasionally flipping one of them towards his medium sized TV that was sitting on a dresser against the opposite wall. Link had observed Marth play Wii before and had been startled to learn that he held the controls backwards from normal people; holding the wiimote in his left hand and the nunchuck in his right even though he was right-handed. Now he wasn't so much interested in that as compared to the carnage being displayed on the screen.

"I didn't know they had Call of Duty for Wii," he managed to say weakly after a moment.

"I didn't either," Marth said, firing a rapid burst from his virtual machine gun. "It's actually_ really_ hard. Like the enemies are way stronger, and it's harder to aim…And there are no zombies." He winced as his character died in a spattering of creepily realistic blood and respawned at the beginning of the stage. "How's everyone else?"

"What's this game rated?" Link murmured, feeling mildly sick as Marth casually mowed down another line of enemies.

"M. It's not really that bad though. I've seen worse."

Link remembered that Marth, before all the brawl stuff had started, probably actually had seen worse. In fact, Link himself probably had as well. There was just something about seeing this level of violence in this world in a video game—for _amusement_—that was sort of unnerving.

"So how long have you been awake?" Link asked, looking away from the screen pointedly. Marth didn't look like he had taken a step out of bed since he had woken up; his hair was rumpled in the way that suggested that he had slept on it funnily (it was back to its usual blue color), and he was wearing the waffled black shirt with the holes in the elbows that he had worn as his pajama top for as long as Link could remember. The rest of him was covered by a navy blue comforter.

"For about a half-hour," Marth said, then shouted nonsensically at the screen and threw his controller off of the bed at it in a fit of frustration.

"You're going to wake everyone else up," Link pointed out, still looking at the wall as he heard Marth flip the blankets back and stagger out of bed to grab the controllers. He must have been changing the game as well, because Link heard the familiar tinkle of the Wii menu music replace the sounds of gunfire and yelling.

Because the Brawl complex was completely backed by Nintendo, everyone had access to basically any type of electronic they wanted. The latest version of the Wii was standard in every room. All you had to do was mention that a new game was out and it would show up on your bedspread the next day. Link had even gotten his hands on a prototype 3DS and had decided that it was pretty much the physical embodiment of epic-ness. State of the art headphones and stereo systems were on the house as well. Even Link's iPod had been imported courtesy of Nintendo. It was a sweet gig.

Marth flopped back onto the bed, blowing his bangs out of his eyes. "I miss my circlet," he said as he initiated the next game and immediately turned down the volume almost to the point of muteness. "I wish I could wear it outside the ring."

"It's a tiara," Link chuckled. "And you know it."

"And you're just an elf who ticked off Santa," Marth snapped back, swinging his left hand in a wide arc to slash at something on the game.

Link resisted the urge to tackle Marth, thinking about how awkward that would look if someone happened to walk in. No sooner had he thought it then a bleary-eyed Pit stumbled through the door, rubbing at his eyes. His hair stuck up all over his head like a fledgling's feathers, and his wings hung limply against his back. He had ditched his leather and crisp shirts in favor of Ike's old hand-me-downs and was wearing a sky blue T-shirt that was so big that it looked more like a nightgown.

"What time is it?" he mumbled.

"Don't you have a clock in your room?" Marth asked, accidentally elbowing Link as he swung his remote frantically at the screen and then growled something incomprehensible as he leaned back, having obviously just died.

"Its batteries died," Pit explained, looking lazily over at the TV screen. "Why are you playing that?"

"Because he enjoys blasting people to bits," Link drawled, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling. In doing so, he didn't see Marth made a silent 'shh!' gesture in Pit's direction. "Seriously kid, you probably shouldn't be watching. It's pretty nasty."

"Says the guy who has to kill giant naked monkeys with a boomerang," Marth said calmly. "_That_ was nasty."

"I didn't have to kill monkeys!" Link yelled. "For your information, there weren't _any_ monkeys in that temple; I saved _one_ monkey in the entire adventure and that was one of the kid's pets! There were never any other monkeys _anywhere!_"

"Aren't we strung tightly this afternoon?" Marth asked.

Pit made a shuffling retreat from the room after glancing at Marth's digital clock and discovering that it was food-time. Link waved him off, but Pit was still too exhausted to notice.

After the door closed, Link turned around to snap a retort back at Marth only to catch a glimpse of a horribly familiar green-clad man riding a brown horse around on the TV screen, boomerang in hand, chasing after a flaming carriage.

"You. Are. _NOT_," Link hissed.

"I beg to differ; I actually am. And you have no idea how many times I've died trying to do this. Did you seriously have to escort this carriage thingy across the _whole_ field? It's getting annoying."

"It was bigger in real life," Link said sourly.

Marth muttered something as he continued to chase the chariot and somehow got the fire under control. The girl inside screamed as a monster jabbed its sword inside, and while Link's jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed, Marth calmly drove his horse forward and dispatched the monster with a flick of his wrist.

"…Almost there…" he whispered to himself. "Just a bit more…Just hold out for three more seconds…"

Link stood up from the bed and calmly walked over to the TV, blocking Marth's view.

"Hey!" Marth yelped. "No—dang it Link, _move_!"

Link, with a sadistic smirk, stepped out of the way, hitting the power button on the Wii console with his elbow as he did so. The screen flickered with static for a moment, then faded into black.

There was a short silence where Link briefly hoped that Marth wouldn't be _too_ ticked off, but then he caught sight of Marth's face and started planning escape routes.

"_LINK!_" Marth roared, making a flying jump off the bed just as Link made a break for the door. He crashed into the Hyrulian just as the latter flung the door open and they rolled out into the hallway, shouting and grabbing at each other's shirts.

"Um…working out some domestic issues?" Samus's voice asked from overhead.

Marth, who was sprawled on his back trying to escape Link's wrestling-style pin, hissed a swear word under his breath. Link immediately released his pressure on Marth's arms and sat up, rubbing at a swelling bruise on his face.

Samus stood over them, hands on her hips, thankfully not wearing a skirt. Instead, she wore a pair of dark skinny jeans and an oversized shirt that hung off of her right shoulder. Her eyes dared either of them to say something, but neither one obliged right away.

After a moment Marth sat up, rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the door and revealing bright red rug burns on his elbows. "That was a nice takedown. Have you been working with Snake?"

Link shrugged. "Not really. Are you okay?"

"Fine."

Samus rolled her eyes, muttered "boys" out of the corner of her mouth, and stepped over Marth to continue down the hallway. He shifted a little so he could watch her over Link's shoulder.

Link raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Look, she's hot," Marth said, being uncharacteristically blunt. "Enough said." He stood up, offering a hand down to Link. "…Sorry for getting mad."

"Yeah…" Link said, accepting the hand. "Me too, I guess."

"OH MY GOSH!" Samus shrieked, sticking her head back around the corner. "ARE YOU _GETTING ALONG?_ WHERE'S THE CAMERA?" She ran back down the hallway and into her room, shouting something about 'photographic evidence.'

Link laughed and turned to see Marth's face ashen. "Hey, what's up?"

Marth took a minute, then finally whispered, "…She heard that _whole thing_….?"

**Aaaah….poor Marth. XD I can't resist putting him in all these awkward situations. My apologies to anyone who doesn't support the Marth/Samus pairing. He's a teenager; of course he's going to think she's hot, especially when she dresses as she does. ;_;**

**BTW, my friend is right-handed and holds the Wii controls backwards, so that's where I got the idea to make Marth backwards. Just randomness; no deep significance behind that or anything. XD In a random note, my chapters keep getting longer…..hmm….a good thing or a bad thing?**

**Happy Superbowl Sunday to you all! The next chapter will be about a snowball fight! Who'll emerge victorious? You'll have to wait and find out! XD**

**Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12: Snowball Fight

**Y'know, I've never really liked Tuesdays. I don't know why. On the other hand, Hershel DEFINITELY seems to like Tuesdays; because he spawned this thing in the span of about half-an-hour. I hope it brightens up your day.**

**~EDIT~ HOLY COW! OVER 50 REVIEW! I LOVE YOU GUYS! *goes into the corner to freak out***

**Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; I haven't gotten around to actually playing Kid Icarus. Is it any good? Thanks for reviewing!**

**Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Marth isn't a hardcore gamer, no. XD You are, apparently. PACKERS FTW!**

**Thanks to **_**Foxpilot;**_** Hey, I'm a Pack-girl too. No worries. Marth's probably pretty bummed though. I've been doing a lot of speed-writes lately…hm…Wonder if there's a career that'd do that. Thanks again!**

**Thanks to **_**Lazy Araceli L**_** (XD been there); No, I love your reviews! They make me happy! Go Old-skool! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all that—totally made my day. YES, there will be zombies. And Link/Zelda fluff. No worries. XD**

**Thanks to **_**Anomynous**_**; HOLY CHEESE, I LOVE your idea for an arc. That's totally going to be my next one! And I am currently planning to at least have Roy come back for a few chapters, if not to stay. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; Marth has a knack for getting himself into awkward situations. XD Thanks again!**

**And thanks to **_**TriforceOfAwesome**_**; Once again, I freaked out when I read the first sentence of your review (you should write suspense). XD You should save more often (I've done it too). And it's fun abusing Marth…it happens more than I want it to. I think he gets himself into it. XD Thanks for reviewing!**

**So here you go; it's SSBB's Winter Wonderland!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own SSBB it's character or affiliates. Neither do I own Honda. Hooray.**

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 12: Snowball Fight**

Quincy's bedroom door slammed open with a bang, something launching from the doorway onto his bed with a loud squeal like a police siren.

"IT SNOWED IT SNOWED IT SNOWED!" Ness and Lucas screamed, alternately bashing Quincy's head with pillows, feet, and their little fists.

"Where are your nannies?" Quincy moaned, yanking his comforter over his head in the hopes that it would offer some protection. Lucas and Ness usually had at least two Brawl staffers walking around behind them, keeping them out of trouble while still letting then do pretty much whatever they wanted. Neither of the two girls appeared to be with them at the moment.

"COME OUTSIDE WITH US!" Ness cried, whacking Quincy in the face again as the latter risked a peek above the covers to see if the danger had passed. "Oh c'mon! Everyone else is already out there!"

Quincy hazarded a second peek to see Lucas looking down at him adorably, a pink band-aid stuck on his cheek.

"I fell," Lucas explained.

"And he cried," Ness sniggered. "Ms. Diana had to give him a band-aid to make him stop sobbing."

"HEY!" Lucas shouted.

"Uh-huh…" Quincy said, rolling his eyes as he flipped back the covers. Lucas could be so bi-polar; the pokemon trainer had seen him take a fully charged shot to the face from _Ike _and pop right back up with a grin on his face, and now he had apparently been crying over what couldn't be worse than a bruise, if even that. "Fine, fine. I'm getting up." He pawed through his dresser for a pair of clean jeans and, finding none, ended up throwing on a pair that weren't too scummy and at one point had belonged to Marth. Needless to say, they were extremely battered with a hole slashed through the left knee. Remembering the supposed weather conditions, Quincy revised his outfit, putting on long underwear pants underneath the jeans to block the hole and then digging deep into his closet for a jacket that had sleeves.

Pikachu, who had somehow managed to sleep through the child-invasion, yowled like a cat as it woke up and looked at Quincy with black eyes, questioning what the heck its master was doing out of bed before ten.

"Let's go," Quincy said, cramming a grey baseball cap on over his head and tugging the zipper up on his jacket, reaching inside one of the pockets to happen across a pair of gloves. Lucas and Ness, already dressed for the elements, scampered off of the bed, huge grins on their faces. Pikachu scampered lazily onto Quincy's elbow and then up to his shoulder, nuzzling his ear in the hope that it was going to get some food.

"No, apparently there's no breakfast for either of us," Quincy sighed as Lucas and Ness each grabbed one of his hands, towing him towards the exit.

xOx **(AN: Hey look. I figured out how to do breaks!)**

Almost as soon as Quincy's feet stepped off of the beam pad he was tackled by Pit with a roar of "GET DOWN!"

Quincy crunched into the snow, Pikachu leaping off of his shoulder with a squeak. Something whizzed over Pit's snow-covered head, and then Pit was off of him, launching off the snow and flinging his wings out, sending multi-colored crystals zinging through the crisp morning air.

Trying to get his bearings, Quincy scrambled to his knees and immediately had to throw himself sideways as a white bullet flew past his face. He climbed back up again and brushed himself, instantly thankful for the long underwear layer beneath his threadbare jeans.

"Holy cow."

Outside was mayhem. Quincy had no idea how long the older kids had been out there, but they had created a mess. There wasn't a square foot of snow that wasn't overrun with footprints or packed down where someone had landed.

Pit was like a sniper—flying around with an armful of snowballs that he shot down with uncanny accuracy. His actions had forced Zelda and Sheik to hide behind the Honda that was still parked a few feet away. The boys and Samus had opted to ignore the barrage, although they were certainly suffering for it. Quincy saw Marth take a shot to the head and go flying; his light weight being used against him. He wasn't wearing a jacket either; just a scarf and a pair of jeans with a black sweater and a woolen hat with a brim. He must've been soaked, but he didn't seem to mind.

Ike was backpedaling in the three feet of snow, his eyes on Pit as he scooped up snow and molded it into a spherical shape. He wasn't wearing a jacket either, but he was a bit better prepared than Marth in that his sweatshirt at least looked fairly heavy and possibly waterproof.

While Ike was distracted, Link snug up behind him and had the perfect headshot, except he was picked off by Samus before he had a chance to throw. Samus was the only one really prepared; wearing waterproof pants and a winter jacket, like Quincy. Link shouted a bad word at her from the snow.

Lucas and Ness were chasing Pikachu around, their expressions jubilant. The snow came up past their waists.

Marth dodged left and right, trying to stay out of Pit's line of fire. He swung himself up over the Honda's hood and rolled over onto the other side with the girls, who soon ran out screaming—their heads covered in white dandruff.

"If you can't stand the cold then go inside!" Link shouted in their direction, currently engaged in a wrestling match with Samus to see who could give the other a facewash first. Ike leapt onto Link's head, shoving it into the frozen slush.

Quincy, who had been watching in awe for the past minutes, was suddenly grabbed from behind and hoisted by his shoulders into the air. He glanced up to see Pit grinning down at him right before he was released to freefall about five feet into a huge drift.

"You suck!" he shouted up at the angel, who shouted "Then don't stand there like an idiot!" as he flew away. Gloved hands were suddenly lifting Quincy out of the snow, and he caught a fleeting glimpse of Marth patting him on the shoulder before diving sideway to avoid an ice ball from Ike's direction. The iceball slammed into Quincy's gut, sending him sprawling backwards onto his back.

"My bad!" he heard Ike shout. "That was meant for Marth!"

"HA! Please! You couldn't hit me if I was standing three feet away!" Marth shouted from behind the Honda.

"Wuss!" Ike shouted back, running past Quincy with a handful of ice in his hand. "Take it like a man—oh wait…"

As a ticked Marth sprang out from behind the car, Link chuckled darkly and he threw himself after Samus, who dodged out of the way at the last second, leaving Link grabbing at powder. Samus leapt upwards, grabbing Pit by the waist and finally tugging him out of the air to throw him face first into a drift.

Feeling the need to participate as something other than a human shield, Quincy snuck up behind Samus as her back was turned and hesitantly dumped a handful of snow down her jacket. She screamed and whirled on him, her hair almost whacking him in the face.

Grinning with the inexplicable thrill of it, Quincy turned away to run, only to run into Link's chest and fall back, hands flying up to protect his face. Meanwhile, Pit had shook most of the snow out of his hair and somehow snagged one of Ike's legs as Marth leapt up for a head-shot. Ike fell heavily, and the Altean's snowball caught Pit full in the face.

Zelda and Sheik made a sudden reappearance on the scene, throwing hard iceballs at everyone but Samus. Marth, Link, and Ike took the brunt of the attack; all three falling heavily into the snow clutching various body parts. Quincy and Pit were able to escape the majority of it, and Pit managed to throw a poorly-made snowball at the girls only to have it dissolve into powder on its flight. Quincy scooped up a handful of moister stuff and whipped the slushball towards Sheik's chest, satisfied when it splashed across her jacket and knocked her off balance, making the ice chunk intended for the defenseless Marth's head veer off course and crater the snow next to him instead.

There was a brief pause where everyone was scrambling to recover. The girls had retreated behind the car again, and the older boys were down with varying levels of bruises. Link had apparently taken a particularly bad shot, for he was currently curled in the fetal position, moaning softly. As Marth stood up, favoring his right leg, he called "Nice shot!" over towards the Honda.

Ike was scrambling to his feet as well and leapt at Marth when his back was turned, slamming both of them into the ground.

Quincy saw Pit sneaking forward in his peripheral vision and turned, bending down briefly to pick up some more snow. They faced off awkwardly, neither one of them wanting to throw their projectile just yet.

"Truce, boys?" Samus asked, stepping out sideways from the car. "It's almost lunchtime."

"Heck no!" Ike called, fighting off Marth's increasingly feeble attempts to shift him off of the prince's back.

Quincy's stomach rumbled, and he remembered that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet. "Truce sounds good."

"Yes!" Marth and Link cried in perfect sync. "Truce sounds very good!"

Pit tossed his snowball to the side. "Sure. We can always come back outside later."

"It's a temporary truce, Ike!" Marth said persuasively. "Get off!"

Link staggered to his feet, shooting a death glare towards the car. "Yeah, this is only a _temporary_ truce."

Lucas, Ness and Pikachu bounded over to what was left of the war-zone, all three flushed with the snow. "We're hungry!"

"Okay," Pit said, starting to herd them towards the beam pad. "Let's go eat."

Quincy followed after them, taking off his hat to beat the snow from it. Ike finally stood up and offered a hand down to Marth, who grabbed it to pull himself up. Link hobbled over towards the plate too, and it was only after everyone was out of throwing distance that the girls started a hesitant retreat as well.

"We_ are_ coming back out after lunch, right?" Pit clarified.

"Of course we are," Marth nodded. "Right?"

"Right!" Link enthused bitterly. "I need to _kill_ Sheik!"

"Hey now," Ike said mildly.

"Hot chocolate on the house!" a Brawl staffer called down from the hovering stadium. "Come on, or it'll all be gone."

Marth and Link instantly recovered enough energy to beat Lucas and Ness to the plate, beaming their wet selves up into the stadium for their hot beverages.

"I'll be back!" Link shouted down towards the girls in a Terminator-style accent.

"We'll be waiting!" they called back.

Pikachu scrabbled onto Quincy's shoulder and nuzzled his cheek with wet fur. Quincy scratched its ears where it liked it, suddenly very glad that he had let Ness and Lucas drag him out of bed that morning.

**And thus concludes my winter-wonderland fluff-fest. Apologies for the anti-climatic ending. ;_; next one will be better. Also please forgive any spelling/grammar errors that I missed. I didn't have time to edit this one. ;_; Once again, I'll fix any issues next time. **

**And the next chapter will be some random Link/Zelda fluff, as requested by Araceli L. ;) (BTW, if I forget to do your request, please tell me! I neglected to write them down and now I've forgotten. ;_;)**

**Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13: Bad Luck

**TGIF, right? I had a long week. But now I've got my tasty beverage and my (father's) computer and it's all good. :)**

**Lots of thanks (Jiminy Cricket, soon my review section will be longer than the actual story);**

**First one goes to **_**Araceli L**_**; Steelers FTL XD, no offense. I actually owe you a HUGE apology because I bumped your request chapter to chapter 14 because I wanted to do the Zelda/Link fluff on Valentine's Day. Please forgive me *bows*. I'm sorry. I swear it'll be the next one. Thanks for reviewing!**

**Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; The kid's watchers are…elsewhere. XD Thanks for the kind reviews, and I took your advice and took a wee break to work on some other stuff, but I'm back now! Thanks for the review!**

**Thanks to **_**Mariko Midori**_**; I'm glad you were entertained. Please keep reviewing! :)**

**Thanks to **_**Anomynous**_**; I love the Snake+box idea too. I'm starting to think that the people on this site represent the smarter part of the world's populations. XD Thanks!**

**Thanks for **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; Lucas will hopefully pop back up again sooner or later. Inkblot is still unfortunately on hold, sorry. ;_; Still not sure if/when that'll come back online. Thanks for your support! **

**Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Don't feel bad XD no hurt feelings. Thank you so much!**

**To **_**AquosBrawlerStar**_**; Thank you! :) I hope I can keep the epic-ness up.**

**Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; If only they had videocameras, right? Never played Kid Icarus. I'll have to try at some point. Thanks!**

**To **_**TriforceOfAwesome**_**; I've been mistaken for a boy more times than I'd like to admit. XD No harm done. XD Thank you so much! I always love your suspenseful reviews. The Curry-eating contest will pop up ASA-I-find-a-spare-moment. XD I'll get there! Thanks again!**

**And a final thanks to _Sir Starll_; I'll put some Samus fluff in the next chapter (and make some cool outfit—I'm always awful at coming up with clothes. ;_;), I swear. XD Thanks for reviewing! I'll try and keep it up. **

**Daaang, I love all of my reviewers. Please keep it up! I love getting the review alert emails!**

**Please forgive the lameness of this chapter; it's mostly just filler. And I know that I could have done something with the battle-sequences, but I was reeeally lazy. There will be more awesomeness coming up; don't lose faith!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own SSBB, Intelligent Systems, Capcom, Sega, or Nintendo, and if any Nintendo people are reading this then I apologize for calling you "Nintenjerks" (you'll see what I mean). I love you guys; keep making epic games. XD Oh, and I apologize to any R.O.B. fans (Is there even such a thing?); I dis it quite a lot in this thing. No offense intended. **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 13: Bad Luck**

Crowds roaring, swords clashing, bombs flying, pokeballs dropping out of the sky…The sheer _insanity_ of it all was incredible. Tournaments were amazing.

Everyone had been a bit hesitant to take part in this particular tournament, however, seeing as it happened to take place on the infamous Friday the 13th. But the tickets were already on sale, and Nintendo basically came in (with a few interpreters) and told the brawlers to get the heck out there otherwise they could kiss their wiis and free cars goodbye. Naturally, they phrased it in a very polite and apologetic way, but the basic meaning was still the same.

So it was with a slightly superstitious attitude that the brawlers were now fighting, although they were soon getting past that aspect as they lost themselves in the fights.

"Aren't we a bloodthirsty bunch?" Marth said cheerfully as he threw his sweaty self into one the reserved seats, still in his battle gear, to watch Ike's and Ganondorf's fight, having just won his own fight against Jigglypuff.

"Nice match," Samus said absently, fiddling with the sleeve of her zero-suit and watching along with the rest of the crowd as announcer gave Ike and Ganondorf permission to kill each other.

"Oh gee, thanks," Marth said dryly, propping Falchion up against his seat rest so that he wouldn't have to hold it. "No 'you did a fantastic job, Marth' or 'you're my hero, Marth' or 'you're the physical embodiment of awesomeness, Marth!'?"

Samus turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised. "A, I don't sound like that, and B, it was _Jigglypuff_. You had a _sword_. Beat Ike or Link one day with minimal damage and then we'll talk, okay?"

"Right. I'll let you know," Marth grinned, letting his eyes skim over his outfit once admiringly before stripping off his gloves and tucking him inside his belt as he reclined in the seat, watching what was turning out to be a surprisingly one-sided match. "Um…what's Ike's issue? He's getting owned."

Link appeared; decked out in his Hyrulian green (complete with what Marth had dubbed "the elf hat"), holding two bags of popcorn, one of which he passed to Zelda. The Altean promptly stole a handful out of the other and endured a smack upside the head for it.

"I don't know what's up with Ike," Zelda said thoughtfully, crossing her legs underneath her fantastically embroidered skirt. "He's not at his best today, is he?"

"Aw…" Link pouted, ramming an elbow into the prince's side as he made another for his snack. "I wanted to fight him in the championship round."

"You've still got me to contend with first," Marth said, flashing a disarming smile.

The SSBB reserved seats weren't actually the best seats in the house; those were reserved for any friends of Nintendo who had come around to see their greatest accomplishment. The brawlers were seated a few rows up, still with a fairly decent view of the stage plus a great view of the megatron TV screen.

"Man…" Quincy murmured, standing up on the safety rail for a better look at the stage; which was currently set at Quincy's very own pokemon stadium. "Ike's doing _awful_."

The teenager in question had just been thrown at least ten feet through the air and was very slowly climbing to his feet, just in time to be kneed in the stomach and collapse again. Half of the crowd winced, and the other half didn't particularly care.

Pit bobbed down next to his friend, back to wearing his jeans and hand-me-down T-shirt after he had lost his first match. "Maybe he's just having a bad day too."

"It_ is_ Friday the 13th," Samus said sagely, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Whoa, wait," Link said, leaning over Zelda to look Pit in the eye. "Weren't you up against _R.O.B._?"

Pit nodded slowly.

"And you _lost?_"

Another miserable nod. "Bad luck, I guess. I just couldn't get my feet under me when I landed."

"Leave the kid alone," Marth said, making a third grab for Link's bag of popcorn and missing as the latter yanked it away. "You're up against Ness in the next round, so watch what you say or Karma will make you lose."

"Yeah, and you're up against Meta Knight," Link said. "So watch what _you_ say."

Marth smiled and leaned back in his seat again, entwining his fingers behind his head. "I'll be fine. I've got a good feeling about this."

xXx

"SHUT UP!" Marth was raging as Link was nearly falling off of his chair from laughter and having to hang onto Samus's shoulder (easier said that done, considering that her suit was made from an anti-grip material) just to stay upright.

"Karma—what now?" he managed to wheeze before lapsing into another fit of giggles. "That was so _lame!_"

Ike sat quietly at the end of the isle, staring moodily out towards the stage where Sheik and Zelda were tag-teaming against Kirby, who had beaten somehow out the ice climbers and Mario himself in the previous two rounds. Marth had obviously lost his, Link had won against Ness—as expected, and to everyone's surprise Ike was out of the running too. It was almost unheard of for Marth _and_ Ike to be knocked out of the running in the same round, especially in such pathetic ways; usually at least one of them survived to the semi-finals.

"What _happened _to you?" Samus asked, covering her mouth as she tried not to smirk.

"NOT you too!" Marth yelled, pointing a rigid finger at her face. "DON'T laugh!" Now Ike was stifling a chuckle too, and the betrayed Marth flung himself back into his seat, raking his blue hair out of his eyes.

"No, seriously though," Samus asked, miraculously keeping her face straight. "How did you manage to fall like that?"

"Dunno," he mumbled into his arm, his face flushed a bright red. "I jumped, and then I sort of just…missed the edge." **(AN: we've all been there.)**

Upon hearing that, Link roared with laughter again. "'Missed' is one word for it. Oh my gosh, your _FACE_—that was the funniest thing I've seen all day! You're such a klutz!"

Marth had to endure three more replays of his fall on the megatron much to the amusement of the crowd before the brawlers finally let it go. Link was wiping tears from his eyes as he stood up to go to his fight.

Ike gave Marth a sympathetic look. "We're all having bad days, aren't we?"

Pit fluttered down into Link's vacated seat. "Sheik and Zelda just lost too; don't feel bad."

Ike's head jerked up at that, his eyes flying to the now-empty stage. "She lost?"

"'They' lost," Pit corrected, blissfully unaware of the whole Ike/Sheik issue. "It was Sheik who had the final fall though. Call me crazy, but I think Kirby's going to win this thing…"

"Or R.O.B," Marth pointed out, still hanging his head in shame from his humiliation. "It beat out Captain Falcon just now."

"Oh jeez, really?" Pit said, sounding concerned. "Wow…That must be a first."

"Nope," Marth corrected sadly. "It happened once about a year ago. Remember that week we all came down with the swine flu and it ended up just being it against Olimar and then Olimar…?"

"Oh yeah!" Pit said, making a face. "That was when Olimar threw u—"

"You can stop there, kid," Ike said quickly. "I have safely locked that memory away and I have no desire to revisit."

"Come to think of it," Marth mused. "Wasn't that a Friday the 13th too?"

"That was the 8th," Samus said, re-joining the conversation as she finished watching the replays on the screen. "And I know because I know someone in the clothes-cleaning division and they refer to that day just as 'The 8th.'"

"Jeez…" Pit murmured. "I have forgotten about that."

Ike looked mildly ill. "Thanks a lot, kid."

xXx

In the end, R.O.B. did win the tournament, thrashing Link in the final round. It was pathetic. Quincy and Samus both scraped their way to the semi-semi-finals, but neither made it past that stage. The fans tramped out of the stadium, disappointed with the outcome.

Ike hung around, hands in his jean pockets (he changed), having promised Marth that he would come up with a smart-aleck line to say to Link when he came out of the locker room in Marth's place as the Altean went to change back into modern-day clothes, and accidentally caught the eye of one of the Nintendo people.

He quickly looked away and hoped the guy wouldn't come to talk to him. Talking to the Nintendo people was mildly creepy; they all looked the same. Black suits, black hair, black eyes, spoke Japanese.

One of them detached themselves from the group and walked over to him, despite his attempts to stay inconspicuous.

He rambled off a long Japanese sentence that the translator spoke slowly in accented English. "He wants to know what happened."

"I don't know what happened, Sir," Ike sighed. "Bad luck, I guess."

"He says that's not an answer," the translator said after repeating what Ike's sentence to the Nintendo man. "The fans were hoping for a good fight, and instead you fall off in the first minute. Marth and Link also. What happened?"

"Sir, I think that instead of asking the others and myself what we did _wrong_, I think you should be asking Kirby and R.O.B. what _they_ did to get so lucky," Ike said sullenly. "We fought our best, and for some reason things didn't work out. Besides," he chanced a smile, "It gets boring for the fans if we win all the time."

"You know that this place isn't really about fighting. It's about whose character is the best."

"I wasn't aware of that fact," Ike bristled, seeing Link pop out of the locker room and subtly waving him off before the Japanese man could see. "Besides, doesn't R.O.B belong to all of Nintendo, whereas Marth and I have been sponsored mainly by Intelligent Systems? I'm sure Sega and some of the other places have been getting fairly annoyed with that. Or Capcom? They must be pretty peeved that Link's not been doing so well."

The man frowned. Link hadn't left, and was making the 'need help?' gesture towards the man.

Again, Ike waved him off, trying to end the conversation. "So Sir, don't be mad at me or my friends. We're just doing what you told us to do, okay? Today was just an off day."

The man scowled as the translator whispered Ike's words to him.

"He says that you should just treasure the fact that you get to live in this sheltered place, where all Nintendo branches can get along," the translator said. "As opposed to the real world where you would be enemies."

"I do, Sir," Ike said, then dipped his head in an informal bow and struck out towards Link, who still hadn't left—too stubborn.

"So what was that all about?" the Hyrulian asked.

"Nothing," Ike said. "Just a Nintenjerk who probably just lost a bunch of money betting on the tournament outcome."

Link chuckled. "He bet on me, didn't he?"

"No," Ike sighed. "He was actually spouting some garbage about how we'd be enemies in real life and all this stuff. Not sure what he's so ticked about. Usually they're more like 'go win us some money' instead of 'doom and gloom.'"

Marth appeared at the end of the hallway and waved Link and Ike down. "Peach says it's dinnertime!"

"Hey Ike?" Link said as Ike started down towards Marth.

"Yeah?"

"…This sounds weird, but even if our companies weren't getting along, I'd still hang out with you," Link said, his face red. "I think."

Ike smiled. "Thanks, Link. Same goes for you."

**Once again, I apologize for the filler-ness/the lack of the usual smart-aleck lines. I know this wasn't my best chapter. On the other hand, I actually got some foreshadowing in there—yay me!**

**Next chapter is poor **_**Araceli L**_**'s request chapter (for the second time—I'm sorry!) just in time for Valentine's Day! After that I'm thinking zombies. :) Happy Friday!**

**Please review!**


	14. Chapter 14: Valentine's Day

**Happy Valentine's Day or (as my friend pointed out), Happy Single Awareness Day (S.A.D—ironic, isn't it?)! Whatever floats your boat. :) I'm so proud of myself for actually getting this thing done ON Valentine's Day. I was worried it was going to be a day late, but it wasn't! Go me!**

**HOLY COW _76_ REVIEWS! (it seemed like only a few chapters ago I was celebrating 50) YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME!**

**Once again, I'm having to shorten this section. I'm so sorry! I love you all! Please don't stop reviewing! **

**Thanks to **_**AquosBrawlerStar**_**; I would totally love to be the ruler of epicness.~Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; I know my thanks section is long. ;_; sorry. Thanks for the compliments and reviews—I'll try to keep it up!~Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; thanks again for everything; the zombies will be epic.~Thanks to **_**ThePersonofAwesomeness**_**; Thank you so much! Keep reviewing!~Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I honestly don't think there's such thing as an R.O.B. fan ;_; it's so unloved! Thanks again!~XD Thanks to **_**Anomynous**_**; Yeah, not so big on yaoi myself. I think I've said this before, but I'm planning to have Mewtwo and Roy show up at least for a bit, so I'll keep your idea in mind. :)~Thanks to **_**Dudeguy**_**; sorry, but I'm mostly sticking with the human characters—I'm never good at writing other things. The other characters will pop up occasionally, but they probably won't be a main character. Thanks for reviewing, and I'm sorry.~Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; I'm sorry you had a lousy week. There are a few fights in this chapter, so I hope you like it. :) The Jigglypuff idea will be worked into a plot-arc I'm developing right now, so it'll pop up ASAP. I hope you enjoy!~And a final thanks to _Upsilon Four_; I didn't read your review until after I wrote this chapter, but Pit in a cupid suit would have been hysterical. You really should write that. XD Thanks!**

**Once again, I LOVE you guys! Please keep reviewing; I'm sorry I'm not replying in as much detail as usual. ;_; But it seriously makes my day when I look in my email and see all the review alerts! Please keep it up!**

**Disclaimer; I don't own anything SSBB related. :) **

**Hands down, this is my longest chapter, so strap yourselves in for a longer ride than usual! This chapter is sort of _Araceli L'_s belated request of Link/Zelda fluff; there's some of that (sorry it's so lame ;_;). There's also obviously a bit of romance mixed in-between the pwning; it's Valentine's Day! I had to! (sorry, _Diagon _;_; I hope you enjoy regardless)**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 14: Valentine's Day**

"This year we're deciding to do something a bit different for Valentine's Day," the head announcer was saying to the group of assembled brawlers, who were alternately sprawled or sitting attentively in the folding metal chairs in front of the locker rooms. "As you know, we usually let the crowd pick the fighting Valentine couples, but this year we're deciding to take over the process seeing as the number one fan-couple was…Marth and Ike."

Ike and Marth both made a disgusted noise, Ike reflexively jerking his chair away from the Altean and Marth throwing his hands heavenwards in a silent plea of "Why me?" Everyone else sniggered sympathetically, covering their mouths with their hands.

"So instead of that," the announcer continued, trying to keep the antsy teenager's attention. "We've decided to form the five couples ourselves. Here's what we came up with." He pressed a button, and the five Valentine's couples flashed up in the order they were planned to fight each other.

1.) Nana and Popo

2.) Peach and Mario

3.) Sheik and Ike

4.) Samus and Marth

5.) [finale] Zelda and Link

The ice-climbers looked at each other and sighed; they had been separated from each other once almost every year for this occasion. Peach gave Mario a flirtatious blink that made Mario's face burn as bright a red as his shirt. Sheik and Ike looked at each other uncomfortably, wondering how the _announcers_ had noticed that they were together when _Pit_ hadn't. Samus shot Marth a rude hand gesture, which he returned with a cocky smile and a whispered "Your wish is my command," which made Samus scowl. Link and Zelda made eye contact, having already anticipated that they would be the finale (they almost always were) and planned ahead.

"Alright?" the announcer confirmed. "Alright. Go get ready. Everyone not in the fights can go to their seats."

"Congrats on your marriage," Quincy couldn't resist teasing Marth and Ike as he left. "I hope you two are happy together."

"GO NOW!" the two Fire Emblem men roared, both of their hands inching towards the swords at their belts. Quincy made a heart shape with his hands before turning and bolting down the hallway as fast as he could, Marth taking a threatening step after him to make sure he kept moving.

"Good luck!" Quincy shouted over his shoulder as he ducked into the stadium entrance.

"Thanks a bunch," Ike grumbled.

**Nana vs. Popo**

It was over very quickly, as it always was. Nana and Popo simply weren't used to fighting without the support of the other; almost all of their serious attacks relied on tag-teaming. The winner was always decided by who could adapt the fastest. Who could figure out how to catch themselves after a particularly bad fall was usually what ended the fight. In this case, Nana managed to launch Popo off of the stage with a well placed hammer blow, and Popo wasn't quite able to swing himself back far enough to land on the stage. Nana leapt off after her partner before he had even hit the safety net, shouting "are you okay?" thus ending the fight and leaving the crowd in a very Titanic-ish mood.

**Peach vs. Mario**

This was a bit more exciting; both of them were actually experienced in fighting each other and were able to make things interesting. Peach's heart attacks where what sold the crowd, as usual. Every time she landed a kick or a punch they would scream and throw little heart-shaped pieces of construction paper towards the stage. None of the papers reached the stage, of course, but they made for a great atmosphere as the wind caught them and spun them around the safety net.

Peach leapt up in the air in pursuit of a smash ball, but Mario beat her to it; launching himself off of the ground and zooming right in front of Peach to deal the glowing ball the shattering blow, and then absorbing the energy into himself. Peach started retreating, but she couldn't avoid Mario's final smash, which—after taking as many hits as she had—was enough to launch her into the eastern safety net. The crowd, all mostly die-heart Mario fans, stood up in salute at that, cheering on the Italian plumber in red.

**Ike vs. Sheik**

"Sorry," Ike said quietly to Sheik as they both stepped out onto the Final Destination-style stage, both of them clad in red and pink outfits that symbolized the occasion.

"Me too," Sheik nodded. "About beating you, I mean."

Ike grinned. "In your dreams."

She leaned in closer to his ear, so he could feel the fabric covering her mouth brushing his hair. The crowd suddenly went quiet, as if that could help them hear the whispered words that Ike wasn't sure he heard himself.

"Pinch me, Ike," she laughed in his ear. "I'm going to win."

"I'll do more than pinch you," he retorted, trying to jazz himself up for the fight as he walked over to his starting place and waited for the announcer to give him permission to move from it.

At the call, they ran at each other, Ike hefting his sword up over his shoulder for the opening blow, but Sheik managed to beat him to it, dropping down low and then popping back up to catch him in the jaw with her foot. The crowd roared, not sure what to expect from this fight. In all honesty, none of them had seen this pairing coming, but they were willing to give it a shot. They were also hoping for a good fight, which was what Ike and Sheik intended to give them.

Ike retreated, guarding against a few more superficial blows that mostly glanced off of his shoulders and arms, then shifted his weight back so that he could throw it all forwards as he swung his sword. The blunted edge caught Sheik in the stomach, throwing her back several feet to where she crumpled on the stage, trying to get her breath back. Ike fought the urge to help her back up, instead courteously turning his back to give her a minute to recover.

That turned out to be a mistake as Sheik leapt up with his back was turned and jumped at him, wrapping both arms around his neck and tugging him off balance before driving him to the ground, slamming a hand into his comparatively unprotected gut before leaping away. His sword was reflexively dropped and skittered across the stage, dancing along the edge and mercifully not plummeting from view.

Sheik grinned and made a dash for the sword, Ike scrambling painfully to his feet and diving after her; he knocked her away with a well-placed kick that almost caught her head but hit her shoulder instead and grabbed the sword just as the balancing point moved over the edge and it started to fall.

He stood up the same time she did, she dropping into a martial arts stance as he taunted her; embedding his sword into the ground and crossing his arms, a smile on his face as he dared her to come after him.

She obliged, a crazy smile visible even though the cloth covering her mouth. He waited for her to come within grabbing distance and then ducked down; catching both of her legs and tumbling her over his back, flipping her off the edge of the stage before she could work out which way was up.

Like Nana, he sheathed his sword and leapt off after, laughing as he fell. They met on the net, Ike bouncing twice before getting his feet underneath him, Sheik brushing her hair out of her eyes as she started walking towards the exit.

"Good fight," she said warmly, offering him a hand for a fist bump. "Let's see Marth beat that."

**Marth vs. Samus**

Marth had caught Samus' arm as she started off towards her locker room, his azure eyes serious as he told her, "Don't wear pink."

"Why not? It's Valentine's Day."

Marth grinned a disarming smile at her. "We are being forced to fight those we love; that is not a happy thing, is it? Wear black. The crowd will love it. Stay out of your power suit too; go zero."

Samus made a move to shove his shoulder. "We'll see, pretty-boy."

Marth smirked, knowing that she would probably do what he suggested. He wasn't disappointed either as she stepped out onto the stage a few minutes later, her body only vaguely outlined by the muted curves of the zero suit. She had taken the liberty of tying a pink ribbon around her arm like a token, which he had to admit was a nice touch. He looked like he was attending a funeral too; with the only color on his person being his hair and the gemstones embedded into his cloak clasp and belt. The crowd picked up on the somber mood immediately and lapsed into respectful silence.

"So who goes down first?" Marth asked conversationally, tapping Falchion against his boots as the announcer suggested that they begin and neither one moved.

"You," Samus said without hesitation. "Definitely you."

"We'll see," Marth shrugged, then ran at her. She ducked out of the way, flashing her whip out to where she thought his ankle would have been, but it snapped at air. Confused, she looked around to see him fly at her from her opposite side, holding Falchion in his left hand even though he was right handed.

"Nice try," she said, dancing out of the way as he swung clumsily and shifted back to his dominant hand. It really _had_ been a nice try, she though to herself. If she had noticed a fraction of a second later…

She pushed the Altean back farther, stopping him from getting within a five-foot safety radius of her. At one point, she had him teetering for balance on the edge of the stage, and it was then that she made a lunge for him. It would only take one good shove—

Only he wasn't there anymore. He was behind her, his hand in her hair. Before she was really able to process it, he kissed her in front of everyone, completely out of the blue.

"—? !"

"Now we're even for the Brink," he told her calmly, as if he was talking about the weather. The crowd had truly lost it this time and was screaming hysterically at the stage; a reasonable reaction seeing as the kiss had been broadcast on the megatron TV for the whole world to see.

Before she could sort through the facts that were whirling around her head, Marth shifted his weight forward, lightly pressing into her shoulder with just enough force to make her lose her balance. Her stomach lurched as she realized she was going to fall.

"If I go down, you're coming with me!" she shouted as her hand shot out to grab Marth's cloak. His expression flashed from victorious to startled as he also tumbled over the edge. For safety reasons, they both automatically pushed off of each other in the air so that they wouldn't hurt one another as they landed. They landed about five feet away, Samus still horribly confused about what had just happened and Marth unable to believe (as he watched the replay on the TV) that he had actually touched the net first, making him the loser.

"Why'd you do that?" Samus hissed as they walked off of the stage, wrenching angrily at the pink ribbon that had caught Marth's attention only a few minutes before. "I mean, I know it was a good show and everything, but _seriously!_ Why'd you have to take it that far? Do you honestly like messing around with me like that?"

"Because," Marth said as he caught her shoulder with one of his hands and started to work at the knot she was trying to undo with the other. "I wanted to get even. That's all there was to it." He passed the ribbon to her. "No, I lied. I do like messing around with you. You're adorable when you get angry—you know that?"

Samus suddenly felt as light as air, and couldn't quite place the reason why.

**Link vs. Zelda**

Needless to say, the 80% fangirl crowd had nearly fainted from excitement over the course of the day and was literally bouncing in their seats for the finale.

Link and Zelda had anticipated this, having been chosen to be the finale brawl for the third year in a row. They even dressed for the occasion, with Link wearing his white tunic and Zelda wearing a pearly dress underneath a layer of pink fabric. The gold in both of their hair was brought out under the lights (especially Zelda's). The crowd loved it.

They had been bantering between themselves for most of the day, smiling at Nana's and Popo's attempts to fight, applauding and saluting Mario with the rest of the crowd when he won, wincing when Sheik tackled Ike from behind, and standing up to scream when Marth kissed Samus; Link once again nearly spilling out of his seat he was laughing so hard. In between fights, they had talked about other things too; their average conversation being very in-depth and philosophical until one of them could contain it no longer and burst into giggles. Their relationship was usually a quiet, playful one, and—although neither one would admit it—they were both a little happy that it was Valentine's Day and they could show off a bit.

Link was the gentleman and took the walk to the starting place on the other side, waving gamely to the crowd as he drew the Master Sword out of its back sheath and swung it around in a salute. Zelda attracted the attention back to her side of the stage by summoning a quick aura of sparks that whirled around her hands and head, giving the impression of an angelic halo. Calling on her usually-unused flirty side, she blew the sparks off of her hands and transformed them into a mini-heart that she allowed to float over to Link's side of the stage. He bowed towards her, a huge grin on his face that was visible even without the help of having it shown on the megatron TV.

The bell sounded, giving them permission to run at each other; but they didn't run. They circled one another warily for a moment, their eyes meeting blue to blue. The crowd had absorbed their tension and was leaning on the edge of their seats, waiting for someone to make the first move.

Link suddenly whirled on his heel and flashed the Master Sword around his back as he spun; going for an easy slice at Zelda's armored side. She guarded against it, magic swirling around her fingers as it aided her in an attack directed at Link's comparatively unprotected leg. He dodged the opening attack easily and skipped back under the cover of his shield, forcing Zelda to start circling again—looking for an opportunity. The crowd suddenly got the impression that Link had had the opportunity to hit Zelda with some sort of attack, but he had pulled it back. Like he was stopping himself.

That feeling became more prominent as the fight wore on; Link would pull a strike and roll away at the last minute, Zelda would be in the last stage of a combo and feint the final blow; Link would have an opportunity for a grab but would go for a recovery move instead, Zelda had a shot at shattering a smash ball but let it drift out of reach.

Their fight was turning into a dance, with both often staying within touching distance of one another but neither actually landing a serious attack. The crowd felt themselves being drawn into the complexity of it and couldn't help but wonder if it had been choreographed—and in fact parts of it were, especially in the beginning, but now it was being improvised completely on the fly.

And suddenly, the dance stopped. Zelda and Link froze, Zelda with one of her hands over his sword's hilt, Link with his shield on the ground so that he had a free hand to put on Zelda's shoulder.

The crowd waited for something to happen, going impossibly silent as they waited.

Then Zelda threw both of her arms around Link's neck and leapt against him, both feet leaving the ground for a second before she landed. The cameras weren't quite able to catch their kiss, but it was definitely implied. If the crowd had thought that Marth's and Samus's fight was amazing, they were at a loss for words at the finale.

Link, beaming from ear to ear, untangled his right hand from Zelda's left so he could wave at the crowd and shout "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!" to everyone.

There was an answering roar that seemed to shake the stage beneath the Hyrulians' feet, and a rain of construction paper hearts fell in lazy swirls all around them.

**xXx**

Up in the stands, where the rest of the brawlers were watching, Ike casually threw a hand over Sheiks' shoulder and said, "And that's how you end Valentine's Day here at Brawl."

Samus smacked Marth's shoulder playfully, the pink ribbon from her arm now tied in her hair and playing around a bit in a small breeze that she suspected (with a sinking feeling) came from Wario's side of the bench. "You know, those two are really cute together."

Marth shrugged. "They've been going out since they got here nonstop. I don't think they've ever not been going out."

Samus raised an eyebrow as she glanced over at the Altean. "As I recall, last year _you_ fought against Zelda. Didn't you ask her out afterwards?"

"Yeah, and A) she turned me down and B) Link beat the heck out of me for trying. Remember? I had a black eye and a busted nose."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Samus laughed. "You were ticked."

"What'd you expect? He hit me in the face!"

"Narcissist," Ike catcalled from further down the bleacher.

Marth started to rise to the bait, but then visibly calmed himself and settled back into his seat, resting a hand a bit awkwardly on the back of Samus's seat—not quite daring to touch her shoulder as Ike was with Sheik. Before he could see the startled look Samus was shooting him, he quickly returned his attention to the stage, where Link and Zelda were still standing.

**xXx**

"Happy Valentine's Day," Link whispered to Zelda, his voice as soft and gentle as Zelda remembered from when she heard it for the first time. From the time she realized that she loved him, and from the time he finally told her that he loved her back. Granted, his words had been a bit different then, but the tone now implied that his feelings hadn't changed at all.

"Happy Valentine's Day," she echoed happily, entwining her hands behind his neck and not caring that everyone saw. He grinned at her, and she suddenly had a hard time imagining herself any happier than she was right then.

**So there you go! Happy Valentine's Day! Go tell someone you love them!**

**Please review! I love reviews!**


	15. Chapter 15: The Divide pt 1

**Hello to you all! Jeez, it's been a longer wait than usual for this chapter, ne? Long story short—I got sick. ;_; I still **_**am**_** sick, which explains why I'm updating in the middle of the school day. XD *starts to laugh but then starts coughing, sneezing, etc.* Basically, it's been a lousy few days, but I'm back up and running (mostly) again! Woo-hoo!**

**Holy cheese 87 reviews! (Wonder if I can crack 100 with this chapter…) You guys are AMAZING!**

**Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; I love that song! About the sword thing, I don't think Sheik was hoping to use it _herself_ as much as she wanted to stop _Ike_ from using it. A sword-less Ike would be pretty sad, right? XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**ThePersonofAwesomenes**_**s; I'm glad I made you a Sheik/Ike fan! :) Thanks! ~ Thanks to**_** TriforceOfAwesome**_**; Aw…no suspense. ;_; Oh well—thanks for reviewing! ~ Thanks to **_**Araceli L**_**; I triggered a fangirl squeal? ! My mission is accomplished! XD Happy late birthday and thanks again! ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I worked hard on the fight thing, so I'm glad people liked it! There will definitely be more of that in the future (mainly because I need the practice XD). Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; I always like reading your ideas—I've actually taken a few ideas from them. In fact, this arc is based off of one of your ideas, so thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; thanks again! You're so awesome! ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; XD at least Mario beat Peach (I'm not a huge Mario person, but whatever). Thanks for reviewing! ~ And a final thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Thanks for the compliments—if it impressed you then I know it was decent! Thank you so much! :) Jigglypuff will definitely be pwned sometime in the future. XD**

**Disclaimer; I do not own SSBB, Nintendo, or any of it's branches, including all of its various franchises. And once again, I apologize to any Nintendo people reading this—I'm sorry for making you the bad guys. ;_; Keep making awesome games! **

**This chapter/arc thingy is a bit darker than the stuff I've been writing up until now, but there will be some humor as it goes on. It's probably going to be longer than The Brink arc, but as of right now I have no idea how long. XD It's based off of **_**anomynous's**_** idea that the various franchises go to war. It's probably not what you had in mind, (I had to add my own Mouse Master flair to it XD) but I hope you enjoy nonetheless!**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review! (let's see if we can crack 100!)**

**Chapter 15: The Divide: Part 1**

The notice appeared underneath everyone's door one morning. In deceptively polite language, it read;

_ "Dear Brawl Recipient,_

_ Due to several incidents which have been brought to recent light, several companies are threatening to withdraw their sponsorship if new specified conditions (see below) are not met. Because we wish to keep the Brawl stadium functioning as a reliable source of income, we have agreed to the following terms and conditions, and are notifying you thus of the changes made. _

_1. Brawls are no longer to be fought with various lives/time constraints/etc. Instead they will be fought until one party surrenders—thus creating a more competitive atmosphere._

_2. Players sponsored by various franchises under the Nintendo umbrella including but not limited to Earthbound, Fire Emblem, F-Zero, Kirby, Legend of Zelda, Mario, Metal Gear, Metriod, Pokemon, and Sonic the Hedgehog are no longer permitted to interact with one another save on the Brawl stage due to concerns brought up that there were intimate relations being conducted between various peoples of different franchises, and this is not acceptable in the eyes of Nintendo and its affiliates. _

_3. Counselors will be provided to each franchise to ensure that the above rule will be enforced and to provide any needed support to the brawlers. These counselors are to be chosen by the franchise and Nintendo is not responsible to the franchise's choice. _

_More rules are in the process of being created to enforce these changes. Defiance of any of the above stated rules will result in immediate ejection from the Brawl premises with the request to not return. All of these rules go into effect immediately as of this moment. _

_We hope that you will find these rules acceptable and learn to adapt yourself to work around any inconveniences. Please notify us if you have any questions and/or concerns. _

_ -Nintendo"_

Needless to say, there was an explosion of people from the bedrooms, all spilling out into the hallway in their pajamas to shout their outrage at the new declaration.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Ike was raging—being unusually vocal for this early in the morning as he methodically started to shred his notice into tiny little pieces. "Why can't we talk to each other?"

"What IDIOT came up with this stuff?" Link bellowed, practically jumping up and down with suppressed anger. Pit was flying around to vent, literally bouncing off of walls as he shouted his displeasure to anyone who would listen, which was everyone. Marth was standing in the corner, calmly holding a lighter to his notice and holding onto one of the corners that wasn't burning as he watched the paper crumble into black ash with a look of cool distaste and tucked the lighter into one of his pant's pockets.

"What are we going to do?" Ness asked quietly once everyone had calmed down a little. "I mean…we'll get kicked out if we keep talking like this, right?"

Ike threw his paper scraps into the air like confetti. "Look, who gives a—" He continued, but Peach wisely clamped her hands around Ness's ear before he could hear the rest of the sentence.

"Hear hear!" Link said earnestly. "They can't stop us from talking! We'll still have to see each other in the cafeteria and stuff!"

"So we'll keep fighting?" Samus asked, holding her miraculously unscathed notice between two fingers as she leaned up against a wall in her tank top and short shorts with 'Aero' written across the butt that she wore as her pajamas.

There was a long pause.

"Look, I've read stuff like this before," Marth finally said, stepping forward so that everyone could see him. "I've signed my share of contracts and the like." Those who knew Marth well sensed that he was slipping into 'prince-mode' where his sentences became more fluent and he suddenly acted much older than his age. Suddenly, he looked much more dignified and confident than any teenager had the right to be, especially when he was standing there barefooted in his pajamas, his blue hair tousled and sticking up in odd directions all over his head. "They're worried about a rebellion. They're worried that we're getting too close to one another, but not for the reasons you think," he corrected as a few people started to speak up and he quieted them with a wave of his hand—and the amazing part was that they listened. Even the adults listened. "It's not that they hate us and want to make us unhappy—it's just the fact that they don't really care. They don't think of us as people; they think of us as pawns. Little trinkets to be moved around on their playing board to hopefully bring them some money." A cry of outrage went up somewhere in the back of the group. "Which is precisely the problem. They want to separate us, to make sure that someone's trinket doesn't interfere with someone else's trinket. Take Ike and Sheik for example," he started to say, then caught their horrified expressions and spoke quickly before Ike could come over and strangle him. "You saw them fight on Valentine's Day; they were hardly concentrating on the fight at all, until towards the end. Intelligent Systems and Capcom probably didn't like that at all, because they both wanted to win over the other franchise. They think that'd make them _money._"

A few people nodded as they started to understand.

"So that's why. If they really didn't want us to talk to each other, they would have just stopped Brawl altogether—but it's making them a bunch of money, so they don't want to stop it. Then some guy probably suggested that they could just separate us, so they did. That's all these pieces of paper prove—that they only want us to focus on the fight. They've been trying to bribe us this whole time, can't you see? The computers and the Wiis and the cars…all that stuff was to try and get us to win them more money. But that's obviously not working as well as they thought it would, so now they've resorted to this."

"So what do we do?" Sonic piped up from the back of the group. "Do we take a stand, or what?"

Marth shook his head. "No, they've guarded against that. The only thing accomplished by taking a stand would be getting thrown out of Brawl forever, and we can't do any good there."

"So we just _take_ it?" Ike growled. "Marth, are you insane? You can't mean to—"

"We _have_ to take a bit of it," Marth argued. "So that when we decided to strike, we know where to hit. And if we want to get rid of these new rules, we'll have to hit where it really hurts. Do you understand me? We can't just protest against this—we need solid reasoning to back ourselves up before we go."

Samus though absently it was no wonder that Marth was the king of Altea. The kid knew what he was doing.

A large shadow fell over the hallway and a polished shoe scuffed pointedly against the burgundy carpet, drawing everyone's attention. The brawlers turned in unison, everyone having a sense of what they were going to see.

And no one was disappointed—the shadow turned out to belong to at least fifteen, maybe more, men and women all dressed in similar looking suits made out of dark fabric. They all looked different, but there was also a sense of sameness about them in the way that they looked out over the group of bedraggled brawlers who were also looking back at them. The sameness became even more obvious when one compared them with the brawlers—who varied in almost every possible way. These people all had the same eyes, the same smile, and the same casual hostility about them.

"And you are…?" Link finally dared to ask.

"We are the counselors," a woman with curly reddish hair proclaimed. "We are here ensure that the rules are followed and to provide any needed support to all of you.

"Brainwashed much?" Sheik hissed into Ike's ear, and he nodded.

"Lord Ike and Princess Sheik!" a different counselor proclaimed. "I believe that both of you received the bulletin this morning informing you that your franchises are no longer supposed to have contact with one another, did you not?"

"I have no paper," Ike said defiantly, his blue eyes daring anyone to argue. Pit tried to stifle a laugh as he looked down at the tiny scraps of white paper littering the carpet and ended up having to fake a coughing spasm to hide it completely.

"A) Zelda's the princess, not me. And B) I didn't read mine yet," Sheik defended herself, folding the paper back up to the way she had received it behind her back and then pulling it back out to show them. "I've only heard bits and pieces of what's written. I came out here when I heard the noise."

The counselor looked as if he wanted to shout at them both anyway, but the redhead changed topics when she spoke to Marth. "Prince Marth Lowell of Altea."

"I will remind you that _we_ don't usually use titles here—_we_ find it's sort of arrogant. How may I help you?" Marth asked icily.

If the woman noticed his deliberate use of plurals, she didn't show it. "Will you lie to me as well if I ask if you've read your notice?"

Marth shrugged. "I don't have it with me."

She smiled coyly at him, earning a furious scowl from Samus. "I didn't ask if you _had_ it, I asked if you _read_ it. And I know you've got a lighter in your pocket. I'm not an idiot."

Link stepped forward between the prince and the counselor. "What are you saying…?"

"Genevieve," she said.

"Look, Ms. Genevieve," Link said rudely. "We've all read your stupid notice, and we think it's ridiculous! It's moronic—it's _beyond_ moronic!"

"Link," Marth said under his breath. "You're digging yourself a hole."

"I don't _care,_ Marth!" Link shouted, punctuating the word 'care' with a shove to Marth's shoulder. "It's so stupid! Why should I have to listen to them? They can't tell me what to do!"

Genevieve then did the thing that was probably the one thing she could do that actually made Link madder than he already was; she ignored him. "Marth, we heard what you were saying a few moments ago."

Marth suddenly connected the dots and took a step back, his face going ashen.

"And we have decided unanimously that you are a disruption to the Brawl community."

"HEY!" Ike roared, at the same time that Link shouted a very rude word in his frustration and Pit and Samus both cried out.

"Therefore, on behalf of Nintendo and its affiliates, we must as you to take your leave," she finished, looking Marth straight in the eye to watch his reaction. "Your time's up."

The whole hallway went dead silent.

_Marth was…leaving?_

The Altean stared back at Genevieve, his blue eyes hard and unreadable. He stood his ground and didn't say a word, and for the longest time no one said anything either.

It was Genevieve who finally broke the silence. "We would like to escort you out, and we don't have a bunch of spare time. I'm afraid we must ask you to pack your bags now."

Something indescribable flashed across Marth's face for a moment, but then he turned on his heel and stalked into his room, flinging the door shut and making the taped-up sign that said 'If the music is too loud-you're too old' flutter a little.

The moment his door closed, the hallway exploded into screams and shouts of various levels of anger, and for a moment it seemed like the entire group was going to rush forward to lynch the group of counselors—who were currently being thought of by almost everyone as Hell's personal tormentors, somehow in human form.

"Stop it," Marth said softly, reappearing suddenly from his bedroom—dressed in patched jeans and a red and blue striped rugby shirt this time, a crimson duffel bag underneath his arm. "I'll go. You guys don't have to get busted too."

"Marth, you don't have to…!" Link started.

"You aren't allowed to talk to me!" Marth snapped, his eyes flaring angrily. He turned to look at Genevieve with a look of barely disguised contempt. "Let's go. I need to grab my things from the locker room though; is that alright?" He had phrased his last sentence like a question, but his tone suggested otherwise. Without waiting for an answer, he struck out in that direction without looking back, and the crowd of counselors quickly moved to surround him, almost like they were his bodyguards.

**xXx**

And just like that, Prince Marth Lowell of Altea had been removed from Brawl. The only thing he left behind was the Legend of Zelda game that was still in the Wii system across from his unmade bed, and a scrap of white paper that he let slip from his fingers as he walked around the corner.

"It's_ on_ now," Link said huskily, glaring furiously down the hallway where Marth had gone, feeling as if someone had taken away his brother.

**There was **_**way**_** more talking in this chapter than I originally intended. Marth sort of got his own monologue. Whoops. ;_; **

**I probably made some fangirls reeeeeeally mad when I had Marth leave just now. XD Don't kill me! There wasn't a whole lot of fluff in there, but there will be more to come! **

**Ahh…Genevieve…She was written for the express purpose of hating. XD She's actually kinda fun to write. **

**I'm still open for requests, but please forgive me if I don't get around to doing yours (I know there are a few people who I haven't written their request yet, and I'm sorry. ;_;). **

**Please review! :)**


	16. Chapter 16: The Divide pt 2

**I'm back and in full health this time! (AKA I no longer have any excuse for mistakes I make XD) Hershel's back in action too and I must say that he had WAY too more fun trying to write from a darker style than I thought he would. Wowza. Talk about emo. I prefer lighter stuff, but you need some heavier stuff sometimes to make it good, ne? Hope this isn't over the top. **

_**97 **_**reviews—I am officially convinced the world has a sense of irony. But whatever. :) WOOT! ALMOST THERE! I love you all! Especially the fav-ers. I keep forgetting to mention you here, but you guys are awesome too! Keep it up!**

**Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; Yes, things did just get fun (mwahahaha). ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; I'll keep this story going for as long as possible! Thanks for your support! ~ Thanks to newcomer **_**LadyWhitewolf**_**; Yes, those rules screwed everything up. XD Your questions will hopefully be answered in the next chapter or two, so stay tuned! ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I'm feeling way better now, thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; thank you so much for your continuous support! I feel so loved! ~ Thanks to **_**Azura**_**; I laughed out loud when I saw your "alternate spelling" of Marth. That totally made my day. XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**Araceli L**_**; AGH! YOU KILLED LINK? Genevieve **_**does**_** kind of remind me of Umbridge, now that you mention it….Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**ThePersonofAwesomeness**_**; no, you can't kill them. Murder is bad. XD ~ Thanks to **_**L0lz**_**; I didn't know either until I played Shadow Dragon. XD Thanks! ~ And a last thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Marth has a tendency to monologue even when I don't want him to. ;_; He's like an uncontrollable force….XD Dark is actually crazy fun to write—doesn't that sound creepy? Thanks for reviewing!**

**I love how almost EVERYONE flipped out over Marth leaving. I know it's not a good thing to be happy about, but it made my day to read all these emails and see the first line in most of them be "NOOOO MARTH!" or something like that. XD Made me thing I've made you attached to the characters (or that you're all over-protective fangirls: same difference XD). Keep it up!**

**Disclaimer: No SSBB stuff belongs to me. **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 16: The Divide: Part 2**

Quincy felt sick to his stomach. He was standing there on the side of the Brawl stadium, watching Ganondorf mercilessly dash his Squirtle against the stage's floor, and he couldn't do anything! He had tried to call the fight off, but the announcer had said that wasn't allowed. One party had to be unable to stand for the fight to end—you couldn't cry 'uncle.'

"Just give it up!" he screamed at his pokemon as the pathetic thing dragged itself to its feet again. Frantic, he turned his attention to Ganondorf. "STOP IT! _Please!_ Can't you see that it can't take any more?"

When the large man didn't stop, Quincy made a snap decision—knowing full well that it could cost him. He yanked the brim of his hat down on his face and darted out onto the stage itself, throwing himself in-between Ganondorf's hand and the wheezing pokemon behind him, knowing that it was too late to stop the hand itself but unable to think of anything else he could do….

**xXx**

Ike, at that moment, was lounging in a chair that had initially looked like the sort of chair that one would envelope one's body in squishy bliss, but turned out to be as hard as a rock when he slumped into it. Which figured, considering the man who owned the chair and was sitting in front of him, a scowl peeking over a pair of wire-rimmed glasses.

Ike opened his mouth for perhaps the tenth time, but was waved off as the man returned his attention to a very thick portfolio, presumably filled with various Fire Emblem facts and other random things that—in Ike's opinion—this stupid little man had no right poking his nose into.

"This is all very interesting," he said in a nasal voice, pushing his glasses up a hawk-like nose.

"Is it?" Ike asked tightly, unable to help but wish that Marth was in the room with him. Marth would have already driven this man crazy—he would definitely have something funnily insulting to say, but Ike couldn't come up with anything. He could only sit there and stuff his hands in his ratty jean pockets and act like he didn't care what this man thought of him—which he really didn't.

"Yes, very. For example, it says here that you grew up in a ranger group with your father?"

Ike tried not to flinch, a million images of Griel suddenly assaulting his memory. "Yeah. But things…happened."

"It says here he was killed by some….Black Knight?" Ike could tell by the man's voice that he thought the idea was ridiculous. And how could he not? After all, he had grown up in a world ruled by computers and intellect—not steel and desperation.

He didn't answer, not trusting himself to say the correct thing.

"How old were you?"

For a moment, Ike actually thought he heard something that sounded like concern in this tweedy man's voice, but then clamped down on his rising emotions, forcing himself to get a better grip. "That's none of your business."

"Did you know Roy?" the man said, abruptly changing the subject as he fiddled absently with a disgustingly-colored tie that was tied a little too tightly around a skinny neck.

"How could I? We've never officially met. Why?"

"Just curious." The man made a note, scratching a ballpoint pen across a sheet of paper with unnecessary energy, making Ike wonder if he had consumed an espresso recently.

With a heavy sigh, Ike leaned back in the chair and started fiddling with a strand of thread that had come off of his sleeve hem. He knew you were supposed to just break them off, but he yanked on it experimentally to see how much he could unravel. He decided that he was just going to focus on the thread—he wasn't going to think about Marth's absence or the fact that he couldn't talk to Sheik, he wasn't even going to listen to the odious man in front of him. No, he wasn't going to think about any of that…

"…The truth is, Ike, I think you might be suffering from depression…." the man's voice floated to him.

"Excuse me?" Ike spluttered, jolted out of his contemplation with enough force to almost tip him and the deceptive chair he was sitting in over. As it was, he teetered on the chair's back legs for a few seconds before regaining his balance. "I wasn't paying attention—it almost sounded like you said I was…?"

"Depressed, yes. I believe that the suppressed emotions you've been keeping pent up over your life have finally broken out in the absence of your—what was Marth exactly?—your…partner?"

Until that last sentence, Ike had managed to sit there with a straight enough expression, but that last part was too much. "_Marth and I are _not_ gay!_" he exploded, jackknifing to his feet.

"Perhaps you're not depressed," the man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Maybe you've got some anger-management issues instead."

Ike somehow managed to squeeze all of his frustration towards this stupid man into a single, two-syllable word that he hissed out through his teeth. He got some satisfaction when the man's thin eyebrows shot up. The man—Ike's "counselor;" the term was a horrible misnomer in Ike's opinion—immediately started scribbling furiously onto his notes, writing condemning words like "does not respond to treatment attempts" and "disrespectful to authority figures."

"Leave. Now," he spat, still scrawling across the paper.

Ike was only too happy to oblige. He was out of that room before the man had even lifted his pen from the page, deliberately slamming the door behind him with enough force to rattle the doorframe and knock some things off of the shelves inside the room, deriving some sadistic pleasure from counselor's roar of anger from inside.

Had things got screwed up fast or what? Ike had done some very discreet asking around, and had discovered that most of the counselors were just as evil as his, if not worse. The Zelda counselor was actually Genevieve—the spawn of the devil herself. Ike was one of the ones who had it worse though, because he had no one to rant to. At least some of the brawlers still had people to sit with at lunch, but Ike as well as the majority of others, were left sitting alone.

Not that Ike would really mind—he sat on his own for about the first week-and-a-half he was at Brawl, but then Link and Marth had plopped down next to him, Marth brazenly demanding what kind of warrior was stupid enough to ignore the offer of others to stand by him. What made the separation bad now was knowing what a thin line everyone walked. One wrong move would get them thrown out.

The Altean's face suddenly flashed in front of his eyes, just like his father's had during the interrogation, and Ike quickly shut his line of thought down. He would not—repeat, _not_—think of Marth on the same lines as his father. A) They were nothing alike, and B) Marth was not dead. Obviously, Marth was not dead.

Ike meandered down the hallway, bored out of his mind, and finally settled down in a vacant chair in the completely empty recreation room, looking up lazily at one of the TV screens playing an Ash vs. Ganondorf match. The kid was shouting something—probably being a sore loser; his pokemon was getting creamed. Then Ike saw Ash run out onto the stage just as Ganondorf brought his hand down, the kid looking impossibly small and frail next to the giant of a man.

Before the blow even landed, Ike was out of his chair and running.

**xXx**

About ten minutes later, Link, Ike, Pit, and surprisingly Peach were all screaming bloody murder and worse to the group of counselors who stood solemnly next to the infirmary cot where Quincy lay on a cot, a medic dabbing something with a sharp smell onto his rapidly swelling face as Quincy did his best not to sob.

A very concerned-looking Pikachu was the only one who was allowed close to Quincy, and the pokemon trainer had it curled in his chest and looked as if all he wanted to do was bury his face into its fur to hide the massive bruise that looked like it took up almost half of his face.

All in all, it could have been worse. A fully charged blow like that would have been enough to give a guarding Ike a good whack on the head, and Ike weighed about twice what Quincy weighed, would have actually been able to guard slightly against the hit to stifle some of the force, and had taken hits like that before.

"I'm okay," Quincy managed to say hoarsely to the small group of protestors. "Really—I'm fine. Don't get in trouble too. Remember Marth's…" he stopped, but the older teenagers immediately fell silent as well, knowing exactly what he meant. The counselors all raised their eyebrows in unison.

Pikachu, unable to fully grasp the situation, looked into Quincy's eyes; reflecting the pokemon trainer's battered face back at him. Quincy cracked a small, wry smile at that.

"I bet…" he said softly after a moment. "…I look pretty cool. I've never even had a black eye before. Don't girls dig the bad-boys or something?"

Pit and Link were startled into relieved laughter, Pit actually sagging against the wall a little as he realized that his best friend was going to pull through fine, some color starting to return to his face.

One of the counselors stepped forward—the Pokemon counselor: a petite woman with pixie cut black hair and eyes that were such a deep blue they looked violet. She bent down to Quincy's level, a superficial smile stretched across her face. "Do you feel better now?"

Quincy nodded, and then winced as the medic stuck a large adhesive bandage over the worst of the bruise. Pikachu chirped something from his lap, but Quincy didn't bother to translate. It was highly profane.

"So, Ash," the counselor continued in a sing-song voice. "You know what the rules are, right? You're not supposed to interfere, right?"

Quincy brought Pikachu up to his face and muttered something through the neon fur that sounded like 'I'm not five years old.'

"People who don't follow the rules here are not to be tolerated," the counselor continued.

"NO!" Pit screeched, whatever color had come back into his face immediately draining back out. "Don't make him leave too!" Realizing his outburst, he quickly clapped both hands over his mouth and shied back, embarrassed.

"Leave them alone," Link said, taking a step forward to shield the angel from the malicious glares of the counselors. "They're kids—they don't get it. Just…give them some time to adjust."

The Pokemon counselor tipped her head sideways. "We had actually planned to switch out Ash awhile ago for someone more…interesting."

Quincy blinked, startled. "What?"

"Plain and simple, Ash, you're being asked to leave. Since you're not being a pain like the other kid, we're asking politely. You have a few things to get things ready. We're shifting you out to make room to bring Mewtwo back in." The woman smiled at him, her grin creepily sincere. "I'm sure your parents will be glad to have you back, Ash."

Quincy, his face hard, jumped off of the cot, jerking the brim of his omnipresent baseball cap (that had somehow stayed on his head this whole time) over his eyes. Beckoning Pikachu to follow him, he started to walk out of the infirmary, pausing to shoot one final death glare back at the counselor as he hissed, his voice thick with hate, "My name is NOT. ASH."

**xXx**

"This is ridiculous!" Link raged to Zelda, Sheik and Ganondorf in the cafeteria as the four of them sat together, Ganondorf's chair angled off to the side. "Why _Quincy?_ For the love of…He's _thirteen!_"

"I didn't mean to hit him," Ganondorf clarified. "Really, I didn't."

"Man, I could care less about _you_ at the moment," Link said, waving off his arch nemesis as carelessly as if he was waving off a fly. "We have way bigger issues."

Zelda tugged the sleeves of her fuzzy sweater over her hands absently as she looked sadly over at Pit, sitting by himself. The angel looked like he was in an almost catatonic state upon being deprived of the only other kid close to his age.

"This _sucks!_" Link roared, sweeping a hand across the table in a rage and upending the salt and pepper shakers. Lowering his voice to a furious whisper, he continued, "I mean, I know we're supposed to stay here as long as we can to figure out how to get the heck rid of these guys, but I don't know if I can hold out much longer!"

"Hear hear," Sheik mumbled, her eyes tracking Ike as the last remaining Fire Emblem contestant sat down with his tray and proceeded to just stare at his pizza as it got cold, obviously deep in thought.

"I mean, Marth said in the note he dropped in the hallway that he had something in mind, but _jeez!_ Would it _kill_ him to tell _me_ something for _once?_ I mean, _come on!_ I think the guy _enjoys_ messing with us. I really do."

Zelda recognized that Link was venting and decided that the best option would be to just let him go.

Ganondorf, never having taken the time to even try to get to know Link (knowing full well that they'd have to go back to Hyrule at some point and get back to killing each other), didn't recognize this and growled, "The kid seemed like he had an idea, which is more than I can say for _you._"

Link whirled on his heel, the strings of his green sweatshirt whipping around his neck as he pointed a rigid finger at Ganondorf. "Watch it, 'Ganon_dork!_'"

"_You_ watch it, Elf-boy!" Ganondorf shouted back.

"BOAR!" Link screamed.

"_HERO!_" Ganondorf sneered, obviously thinking that was an equal insult.

Link's face twisted and he forced himself to take it down a notch as he sank back down in the chair. "No, I'm not a hero," he said in a comparatively quiet voice. "I'm not doing anything to stop this…injustice. If I can't even stand up for a thirteen-year-old kid, how can I call myself a hero?"

"Glad you've finally seen the light," Ganondorf snarled.

"You're_ trying_ to stop it," Zelda pleaded. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Besides," Sheik said dryly. "Ganondork here can't really talk. He's the one who hit Quincy in the first place."

Link shook his head, rubbing a hand wearily across his eyes. "I just hope Marth makes his move soon, that's all. Otherwise, this whole place is going under, and it's going to drag anyone still connected to it down with them."

**Yes, I did just get rid of my pet character, Quincy. I hate myself for doing it too! I love that kid! ;_; All for the sake of a plot! And Mewtwo's coming back, so that'll be interesting, right?**

**You know, you all probably won't care, but the Pokemon counselor is actually a reincarnation of my character Mystery, from my novel project. Just some random info there…I was too lazy to come up with anything new. XD**

**XD Ganondorf turned out to be more fun to write than I thought (though I think I butchered his character a bit…Sorry ;_;). He might be popping up some more later. **

**Marth pops back up in the next chapter for a few paragraphs, so don't worry! **

**Please review! Only 3 more until 100!**


	17. Chapter 17: The Divide pt 3

**YEEEEEEES! BROKE 100 REVIEWS! I'M SO HAPPY! *squeals* You guys are so awesome! Here's a speedy update to say "THANK YOU SO MUCH!" :D SO HAPPY! I FEEL SO LOVED!**

_**UBER SPECIAL**_** THANKS TO ALL OF MY REVIEWERS AND FAVERS AND WATCHERS! WOOT! THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

**I'll try to keep this brief so you can just read: :)**

**Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0;**_** I'm sorry, I haven't gotten around to your arc yet—someday! ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; We've got some counselor-hate going on in this chapter—hope you enjoy! ~ Thanks to **_**Azura**_**; I don't know why Ike always has anger-management issues. XD that's just him, I guess…XD ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; I haven't actually written about the hands yet…hmm…maybe they'll pop up eventually. ~ Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; Yes, poor poor Quincy. ;_; Ike and Sheik do sneak out in this chapter—I hope you enjoy. XD ~ Thanks to a newcomer **_**RaymondDullstone**_**; I'm totally using your Mr. Nintendo idea…Mwahaha. Thank you so much! I needed an idea like that. ~ Thanks to another new (or old—I can never tell with anons)comer, **_**Icebelly**_**; Counselors probably aren't going to actually die. Maimed possibly (*cough*probably), not dead. XD That's how I roll. ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Um…I think I'd be an accomplice in murder if I gave you the address…sorry. XD Gotta love the enthusiasm though! And thanks so much! I'm so happy! (I feel really repetitive. XD) ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; Aren't we all? LOL ~ And a final thanks to **_**ThePersonofAwesomeness**_**; Nah, all murder is bad. You can still beat 'em up though! (mwahaha). Poor Quincy….He's coming back though! No worries!**

**Disclaimer; nothing SSBB is mine. The counselors, on the other hand, were all spun from my own disturbing mind. Creepy or what? XD **

**My style changed a bit towards the end. Not sure if that's a good thing or not…critique please?**

**THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! PLEASE KEEP IT UP!**

**And with that, I'll let you get to the story!**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 17: The Divide: Part 3**

Pit was venting. Very violently.

It had started out as a team battle between him, Jigglypuff, and Link. Jigglypuff had been taken out by Pit himself minutes into the game, bouncing almost comically off of the stage before flying into the net. And now Link was finding himself in almost the same situation, and what was really scaring Pit was that he _didn't care_.

Even now, his twin seraph blades flashed in deadly combinations across Link's chest—the majority of them chinking off of his armor but a few striking home, mostly across Link's unprotected arms. The Hyrulian fell back onto his elbows, and Pit found his foot mercilessly stomping on Link's upturned shield arm, deftly wrenching the arm out of its socket and possibly crunching a few fingers.

Link screamed shrilly and curled up on his side, his eyes squeezed tightly shut against the pain. Pit flipped backwards, landing soundly on his feet and joining his blades together to form the sacred bow. An arrow was instantly between his slippery hands, and he held the stance, something like a sneer forming on his face.

_You who dare to call yourself an angel?_ a small voice in the back of his head whispered.

It was like a fog clearing from Pit's eyes. Instead of seeing the face of the stupid Nintendo counselors superimposed across the stage, he only saw Link. Link, who was crumpled across the stage floor and clutching his injured hand.

"Link!" Pit sobbed, abandoning his bow on the ground as he unfurled his wings and leapt into the air, coming down hard on his knees next to the older boy. "Link—I'm sorry! I'm _so sorry!_ I don't know what happened! _I'm so sorry!_"

Link tried to respond, but cradled his hand to his chest again and gave up on words for the moment.

"_I'm so sorry!_" Pit wailed. "Link! _I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm_ so_ sorry!_ I didn't mean to!"

**X**

Pit snapped up in bed, a horrified shriek building in his throat threatening to tear itself free. He clasped his hands around his knees and started rocking himself back and forth, aware that his shoulders were shaking and he was powerless to stop them.

It had been a dream! he told himself fiercely. It was all a dream! He hadn't really hurt Link. He hadn't hurt anyone.

But he _could_ have. The feelings were there, no matter how much he tried to deny them.

As the only representative from the Kid Icarus franchise Pit didn't have anyone to talk to—no way to vent. The new rules were getting to him. He was starting to fall apart at the seams.

He had to pull himself together!

He hadn't signed up for this.

**xXx**

Sheik was wandering the empty, dark hallways by herself. She had a bluish sweatshirt that was almost three sizes too big and badly stained thrown over her T-shirt and cotton pants that served as her pajamas. She wore converse sneakers that weren't as quiet as walking barefoot, but they beat the horrible clogs she usually wore and it was too cold to go without shoes at all.

So, Mewtwo was coming back? That was interesting. It lent itself to the hypothesis that they wanted to replace any exiled characters with characters from the same franchise, and the idea that they weren't averse to bringing previously exiled characters back. Mewtwo took care of Ash, but that still left a Fire Emblem slot open. Who would they replace Marth with? It was hard to think of anyone worthy.

Would they want to replace him with someone from Altea, or did they just want another Fire Emblem person? Maybe they would bring Roy back!

Now_ there_ was an idea, and not a bad one either. Sheik entertained it for several minutes before dismissing it again. Roy was even more hot-headed than Marth, if not as idealistic. They'd want someone they could control. Someone like…

Sheik, not being well versed in the characters of Fire Emblem, couldn't really think of anyone that would work. She walked over to a window and leaned against the sill, looking out over the stars. After finding a few constellations that she knew, she felt a bit better. No matter what happened, at least the stars didn't change.

The counselors were awful—enough said. Her own counselor, Genevieve, had asked her repeatedly why she hadn't made moves to claim Link as her own, why she was prepared to settle for someone as "slow" as Ike. It was possibly the most awkward silence Sheik had ever been in, but she only realized that later, seeing as at the time her mind was filled with various schemes to kill the red-haired woman sitting in front of her.

Sighing heavily, Sheik pulled the sleeves of her bulky sweatshirt over her hands and brought her cold hands up to her face, almost unconsciously yanking up the hem of her shirt to cover her nose as she leaned out over the window—her blondish hair washed out to a silver color by the moonlight.

Muffled footsteps suddenly alerted her to someone's presence, and she whirled; expecting fully to see one of the counselors breathing down her neck. But instead, it was someone much more familiar.

Ike stood before her, kneading one of his eyes with the heel of his hand, looking much softer than usual in his sleep-dampened state. He wore worn out sweatpants and his mock Viking's jersey. His darker hair had been shaded to a color that was closer to a black-violet than the vivid blue that Sheik knew it would bee if he was in artificial lighting. She almost liked this shade better.

"I found out Mewtwo's coming tomorrow. I was thinking we should help Pit brace himself, if we can. I mean, I've never met the guy, and I know we could get in trouble for doing that, but…" Ike started to say, then paused as Sheik caught his eyes and held him there, her red eyes deep pools of black in the dim light.

"I missed you," she said softly, her voice so soft that she wondered if he could hear her at all. "You could get in trouble for coming here, Ike. Why did you?"

He rocked back on his heels, and then awkwardly stepped forward to remove the tie from her hair, allowing quicksilver waves to spill over her shoulders. He leaned down to whisper six words in her ear. "I missed you too. That's why." Then he smiled softly at her, and she grinned back at him, starting to feel something like happiness for the first time that week.

**xXx**

That same night, far away, Marth was finally starting to enjoy himself as well. He wasn't in Altea at the moment, actually—he had stopped there briefly to make sure that everything was still in order (it was). After about a day of getting used to the silence that seemed strange after so long in the "modern world," as the Alteans called it, he struck out again, having been invited to see an old friend.

He had arrived in the late afternoon, and had been immediately welcomed in, despite the fact that it had been pouring rain and he was soaked to the bone—not exactly the dramatic entrance of the fabled Altean prince he had planned, but he was in the company of friends now, so he supposed it didn't matter too much.

Now he was sitting to the right of his host's chair, sipping a cup of red wine **(AN: I'd just like to say that Marth IS a prince, and FE is set in the medieval ages, where it would be expected that he drinks wine. And considering this, I think it's safe to say that he doesn't get drunk easily. XD)** as he watched the performance of an all-female acting troupe that were promised to be incredible and hadn't disappointed yet. They were a musical group of a style that the modern world would have called Celtic, but to Marth it just sounded like home. He had grown up with this sort of music, and he found it vaguely comforting now.

He set his goblet down and started toying absently the hem of his tunic; another thing he had to get used to all over again. In all honesty, he preferred jeans. They weren't quite as sturdy as the riding leathers he had worn earlier in the day, but they were more comfortable. You could spread your legs while wearing jeans—not with tunics, even if you were wearing pants underneath; it just wasn't proper.

"Thank you again for having me, your grace," he said politely to the red-haired man at his side, lifting his goblet in a quiet toast towards the lord.

"It's my pleasure, Your Highness," the older man grinned. "It's not often we get an Altean all the way out here."

Marth chuckled as he leaned forward onto his elbows. "No, I don't suppose you do. Warps are a convenient thing, aren't they?" They were what allowed him to jump from realm to realm as he did.

"Aye, lad," the man nodded. "The way to the future is probably through those warps."

The Altean didn't become offended by being called a 'lad;' he chose to look at it like a term of endearment. After all, this man was probably twenty years his superior, at the very least. He closed his eyes for a moment and let the sharp, confident notes of the singing troupe wash over him for a moment, listening to the epic spun out by their harmonious voices. "These women are truly wonderful, your grace."

The lord laughed wryly. "Would you like to meet one of them, Your Highness? I'm sure they'd be excited to know that we have real royalty among us."

"Thank you, Sire, but no," Marth grinned. "I must decline. No offense to the wonderful ladies, of course."

"Of course," the man chuckled, then raised his own glass to his lips to take a deep swig of the aged wine. "So what brings you to Lycia today, Highness? Is Altea having troubles?"

"No, it's not _Altea_ having problems this time," Marth sighed, starting to rake his hair away from his eyes before brushing against the circlet that he wasn't used to wearing all the time anymore.

"What's wrong, Marth?" the young boy at the lord's side questioned, and endured a harsh glare from his father for not calling the Altean by his title.

"We have a bit of a problem," Marth nodded, tipping back the dregs in his goblet. "A problem that I would like your son to help me with, Lord Eliwood, if that's acceptable to you? I understand that your son had to leave the competition to help out with a winter campaign into the south, but I was under the impression that was successfully completed?"

"Aye, it has," Lord Eliwood nodded. "What do you need my boy for?"

"There's been a bit of a mishap at Brawl, which is the next step of the competition that your son had to step out of. In the modern world. Things have gotten a bit…messy."

The boy at Eliwood's side leaned forward to look at the Altean with the same piercing blue eyes that had made Marth question more than once if they were distantly related. "Wait, Marth, why are you here? Brawl hasn't shut down, has it?"

"No," Marth said. "I've just been kicked out of it."

The boy's eyes widened, and his father scowled darkly.

"And that's why I need you, Lord Roy," Marth said grimly. "To help me get back in. Will you help me?"

Roy looked at his father for approval, and then looked back at Marth after catching Eliwood's slight nod. "What do you need me to do?"

**xXx**

Back in Brawl, a second set of footsteps made Ike tense. In one movement, he shoved Sheik behind his back as his right hand flew to the waistband of his pants, where a sword should have been—but there was nothing.

"Hey!" he called out into the darkness, unable to see more than a few feet down the corridor. Sheik tried to peek over his shoulder, but he kept her behind him.

A feminine figure floated out of the darkness, crimson curls reduced to inky swirls that spiraled down her back. Green eyes caught the starry light and flashed angrily as Genevieve looked at Ike and Sheik with a disgusted expression on her face.

"Honestly," she hissed. "Can _no_ one here follow simple rules?"

**Oh noes! What will become of Ike and Sheik? And what's this—ROY is coming back? I'm having WAY too much fun with this arc. Someone stop me before I go insane. XD**

**No matter how much I try to squash Pit's innocence, he's still an angel. ;_; Oh well. I give up. He can keep his innocence (and that sounded **_**way**_** less dirty in my head XD—my mind's totally in the gutter today. First Marth and his wine and now this...). **

**Genevieve is…**_**delicious**_** to write. I think that's the word I'm looking for. Disgustingly delicious. ;)**

**Please review! I LOVE reviews! (WE BROKE 100! WOOT!)**


	18. Chapter 18: The Divide pt 4

**Hello to everyone! The angst-fest continues, with a bit of Roy and Quincy fluff. :) Fun all around!**

**Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; I answer most of your questions in this chapter :) ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; I have discovered that I really like messing around with Marth. Is that so wrong? XD ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; I've got some stuff planned out for Pit. It's going to be fun. XD Yay! The monitor survived! ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; yes, Roy (I'm going to tick so many Roy-fans off with this chapter…) ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Marth's only got a vague idea what he's doing, actually. XD I'm enjoying this style WAY much more than I should. Still not giving you the address, sorry. ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**ThePersonofAwesomeness**_**; Yay! Something epic's going to happen to Genevieve. I never thought I'd hear a person saying that they "want" Ike and Sheik to get kicked out. XD ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondDullstone**_**; **_**Lots**_** of people get into trouble (sort of) in this chapter. XD ~ Thanks to **_**anonmyous**_**; it's sort of heading in that direction, isn't it? You'll have to just wait and see! XD ~ And a final thanks to **_**Azura**_**; I'm not saying if your prediction is right or not because I'm evil like that. XD And there isn't a lot of Samus because I feel weird writing her without Marth around to make his sexual innuendos. XD**

**Sorry for the briefness of the review replies, but I figured the length of the chapter made up for it (it's a doozie). Keep up the reviewing! :) **

**Disclaimer: Nothing SSBB/SSBM is mine. All Nintendo. **

**This chapter came out much more shout-y (totally a word!) than I expected. And angsty…but I put some Marth and Roy fluff throughout, so hopefully that lifts the mood a little (?). XD Don't be too harsh on Roy (I'm going to tick SOOOO many people off with this one….*waits for the ensuing Mouse-hater comments*)**

**Please read, (hopefully?) enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 18: The Divide: Part 4**

"So…" Roy said awkwardly as he and Marth perused the isles of a clothing store in Seattle that Marth had dragged Roy to when he saw the "modern world" clothes that Roy had produced from a trunk buried deep in one of the castle storage rooms. "Remind me again what we're doing here?"

"We're making you look like a normal teenager," Marth snapped from behind a rack of jeans. It was Seattle, so not even Marth's hair was drawing much attention from the locals. "You can't go walking around with those huge baggy jeans anymore. You look like an idiot and you're practically asking to be jumped—you're too white to pull it off, Roy."

"I'm too…what?" Roy asked naively. "What's wrong with my pants?"

Marth stuck his head over the rack with a 'you-have-_got_-to-be-kidding-me' face. "Alright, for starters, they're weirdly proportioned. The zipper's way too long and almost goes down to your knees, and your hem would be hanging down there too if you didn't have it held in place with…" he struggled for words to describe Roy's belt and eventually went with a dismissive "_that_."

Roy looked down at the tattered cord belt. "It _works_, doesn't it?"

Marth made a pained expression again and then resumed looking at the jeans. "Look, functional may top looks back in Lycia, but here your belt cannot look like it was only stripped off of a dead sheep two days ago."

"But it _was!_" Roy protested, and then flinched as a car horn blared outside in the typical Seattle drizzle, his hands reflexively jumping to his ears. "Jeez! I had forgotten how loud things are here."

"What size are you?" Marth asked.

"Man, how do you even know what's cool here and what's not?" Roy snapped, starting to pick up the lingo again as memories started trickling back into his mind. "You're Fire Emblem too!"

"_I_ know how to blend," the Altean muttered as he threw a pair of jeans in Roy's face. "Try those."

Roy snatched the denim out of the air. "It fabric looks tight, like it'll cling to my legs. Is that normal now? I mean, how can you expect to move if you're all…bunched." He looked mildly disturbed.

"It's not that bad. I didn't give you skinny jeans or anything."

"…You didn't give me _what?_"

Marth grinned evilly. "Just try it, Roy. We've got places to be."

"I'm still not seeing how jeans help us get into Brawl," Roy complained as he made a beeline for the changing rooms.

"They don't," Marth admitted, stopping to look at a T-shirt with 'seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it' written in graffiti-style lettering across the front. "But you need to wear them anyway. Just bear with me and hurry up—we actually have a bus to catch."

**xXx**

Quincy sat lazily in a wicker chair back in his house, offing a weak smile when his mom asked him for the eighth or ninth time that day if his head still hurt.

"I'm fine," he protested weakly, his voice a little scratchy. She nodded, then kissed his forehead and walked into the kitchen, her small Abra toddling along behind her after giving Quincy a sympathetic look. Squirtle, also rather banged up, was curled up beside him in the chair, asleep. Quincy's hand automatically sought out the fuzzy ears that he could scratch, then remembered that it was Squirtle sitting next to him, not Pikachu. Pikachu was still at Brawl.

He couldn't help glancing out at the lawn where a warp square was set up every few minutes, wondering how long it would be before anyone else popped through into his dimension. Would anyone ever come to see him?

It was weird, but it seemed like Brawl had been the only thing that tied him to everyone else. If he met them all in real life, they probably wouldn't have ever even spoken to one another. And now that Brawl had been taken away, Quincy had a horrible feeling that he was going to simply disappear from their memories.

He would have gone right back to throw a huge screaming fit that would have made Ness and Lucas proud, but his parents had freaked out over the facial injury and put him under house arrest until his skin was back to normal. So here he was. Alone. Tired. Pathetic. A washout.

"I want to go back," he whispered to himself, bringing his knees up to his chest to hug. Bitter tears blurred his vision for a few moments, and he tugged the brim of his hat down to hide the trails they left on his face, their salt stinging against the raw skin on his cheek.

"I want to go back," he choked, mumbling the words into his arm. "I want to go back. I want to go back _so bad_…"

**xXx**

Marth and Roy hitched a ride on a bus driving all the way up to the Brawl stadium, where they were hoping to sneak into the first public Brawl fight in almost a week, and not even Marth was sure what to expect. He had asked around and had been able to figure out that Brawl had gone into complete lockdown for a few days for 'reorganization,' and the fan community had been told to brace itself for some changes.

"It's all totally exciting!" one girl who looked disturbingly like the girl who had stolen Marth's bangle back at The Brink gushed when he asked her if she was worried. "I mean, they might get rid of some cool dudes and that'd suck, but they'll bring new ones in, right? Don't you think?"

"What if they got rid of…" Marth tried to think of a good name and consciously tugged on the ski-cap he was wearing to hide his telltale hair. "Um…What if they told Link to leave? Would you be mad?"

"DUH!" she cried. "Link is, like, the coolest guy out there! Now _Ganondorf_, they could get rid of! Nobody likes _him!_"

Marth resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Fangirls. They seemed like a great thing for about five minutes, and then they just got creepy. "Well, what did the people say when they said Brawl was locked down?"

She grinned at him. "They said they were making the fights more exciting, of course! What did you think? The Brawl staff knows what they're doing! And look—they're open again! And the fights are definitely going to be more interesting now that the wussy rules are out! We just have to live with it, right?"

Marth started to laugh harshly and managed to turn the outburst into a coughing fit as he retreated back to his seat, where Roy was looking through the window, all but pressing his hands against the glass as he took in all the things he had forgotten.

"Look at this!" he enthused. "I had forgotten how sturdy vehicles are! It's like a moving _battle tier!_ I'll bet one of these things could take a hit from a bronze chariot and be completely fine!"

"Yeah, that's great," Marth sighed; slouching in his seat and whipping his hat off for a moment to run a hand through his hair before cramming it back on again, looking around anxiously to make sure no one saw.

"What's that?" Roy asked, pointing to the design that was on the cap. It looked like a little green mushroom with eyes.

"It's a one-up mushroom. From the Mario games," Marth resisted the urge to smack Roy upside the head. "Dang it, I wish you hadn't left. It's really annoying much stuff you've forgotten."

"Sorry," Roy apologized, returning his attention to the small city now flashing by the window. "I'm trying to catch up."

"Try harder," Marth snapped, put in a bad mood by the girl's bubbliness. After a moment of glaring angrily out of the window, he threw his hands up in the air and hissed a swear word through his teeth. "_Dang_ it! This is so _stupid!_ I _HATE_ it!"

Roy's expression went from awed to concerned for his friend. "Marth?"

Marth had leaned forward to put his head in his hands and spoke through them as he whispered, "I mean, I don't know if this is going to work. I don't know if everyone's okay. I can't talk to any of them. I don't know if they're doing alright or not. I could be standing here wasting time while they're in serious trouble, and I can't _do_ anything because I'm stuck on a stupid bus full of fangirls!"

Roy looked at Marth for a moment, then looked back out of the window and said quietly, "So I guess things are a bit worse than what you told me."

"No kidding."

The bus lurched to a stop at the edge of the Brawl stadium, and a man passed through the isle with ticket offers. They were ridiculously priced, so Roy was startled when Marth pulled out a small wad of bills from his back pocket and handed them to the man, and got two small slips of blue paper in return.

"Where'd you get all that money?" Roy breathed.

Marth looked mildly embarrassed as he passed one of the tickets to Roy and stood up to stretch. "Cash for gold. You can get a small fortune for a few bracelets and some earrings. Come on, let's go."

**xXx**

Genevieve looked up at Ike, who towered over her, dressed in his navy battle gear with his sword lying on a bench next to his knees. She looked so frail standing next to him, but he seemed to shy away from her like she was the one with power.

"So, are you ready?" she asked him, looking up into his eyes and daring him to look back at her.

He didn't oblige. "I was under the impression that we were doing this whether we were ready or not."

"Of course," she smiled. "Being nice wasn't working. Sometimes you need to hurt people before you can help them."

Ike shook his head, the tight cords in his neck standing out above his collar. "That's not true. You can always help people."

"Maybe I'm helping you," she suggested. "I'm…preparing you, Ike. The real world exists outside of these walls, and the people you love _will_ get hurt outside these walls, not matter what you do."

"_Stop,_" he moaned, and Genevieve shrugged, sensing that one more big push like this could give her the leverage she wanted. However, a push in the wrong direction, she realized, would crack him right down the middle. Just like the angel.

The doors out on the stage opened, and a bellow from the bloodthirsty crowd outside acted nearly as a physical force, driving Ike back a step.

"The crowds are waiting," Genevieve told him, then grinned, her green eyes combined with her red hair making her look about sixteen years old instead of twenty-six—a young fruit. A forbidden apple.

"Go get 'em," she said with another sly grin.

**xXx**

"So…I'm still not seeing the plan," Roy was saying as he sipped at a grape-flavored soda.

"It's a work in progress," Marth muttered back. They had reasonably good seats, with a better view of the stage itself than the megatron TV.

"What I'm basically trying to do here is just re-establishing contact with everyone," the Altean continued. "See how things shook out after I left. Make sure everyone's alright. Then we can start really planning, you and I. We can gather more people. We can bring back more exiled members, and eventually we'll be able to have a group big enough to make Nintendo seriously question whether or not they want to mess with us. If we can get word inside, we can get them to raise heck inside while we attack the walls from outside. We can ever go after the big Nintendo man himself if we have to. Capiche?"

"Ca-what?" Roy asked, confused. He had followed perfectly up until that last word.

"It's Italian," Marth said, waving his hands as if to erase the unfamiliar word. "It doesn't matter."

"Do you even know who's fighting today?" Roy asked.

"No, I don't. But it's not going to be good. I told you about the new combat rules, right?

"Right," Roy said grimly. After a moment, he asked, "How's Sheik?"

Marth hissed in a breath through his teeth. He had forgotten that Roy had a slight crush towards Sheik back from Melee. _That_ would be a problem later, he could tell already. "She's…uh…fine. Mostly. For the most part. I _think_—I mean, we usually don't…She and—um…" He squirmed uncomfortably, wondering how to phrase what he knew he had to say.

Roy raised an eyebrow, then blinked. "Oh-my-gosh you're _dating_ her, aren't you?"

"No!" Marth said, relieved to have an opportunity to change the subject. "No, I'm not!" He laughed weakly. "I'm not going out with anyone at the moment. Not officially, anyway. Samus and I were getting there, but nothing's really happened yet."

A relieved Roy sank farther back into his seat cushion, temporarily relieved. Marth felt a twinge of guilt for not telling him about Ike, but decided he could always do that later.

No sooner had he resolved that little issue did an announcer step onto the stage, a microphone in his hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he proclaimed. "I'm sure you all have heard a lot about us recently, and I'm here to reassure you that we're back in business!" He paused as the crowd drowned out his next few words and used the break to adjust the collar on his fancy suit jacket. "Now, we have some minor changes to alert you to—I'm sure most of you have heard these already, but we want to say them anyway."

The crowd rippled in anticipation, eager for the fight.

"First, our style of fighting has changed. Instead of giving each player 'lives,' we just fight until there is only one player left standing—and we mean this more literally than previously before. Players will now be eliminated when they become unable to fight." He held up an apologetic hand as some of the crowd started to make noises of dissent. "Now, don't worry. No serious injuries will be sustained. We just think that makes it a little fairer—the fights will now be based on the fighter's _spirit,_ as well as his or her abilities!"

"That's a fancy way to say it," Marth grumbled, tugging at his hat.

"We also have some absences and additions to report before we get underway," the man continued. "First of all, contestants Marth and the Pokemon Trainer all unfortunately have had to bow out of the competition." Furious screams erupted from the crowd, and the announcer had to wait a full three minutes for them to die down.

Marth's hands clenched on the chair's armrests, and Roy turned to look at his friend as Marth whispered, "I didn't know about Quincy," his face ashen.

"The good news is that we have found people to replace them!" the announcer called. "Brawl _will_ go on!"

"Get to the point!" several people in the crowd chorused.

"To replace our Pokemon Trainer, we have invited Mewtwo to rejoin us." Screams of excitement—Mewtwo had been a favorite in its time. "And as for Marth…well, we are aware that he is a hard man to replace..."

Marth's face twisted.

"But we believe we have picked someone worthy!" the man continued. "An old friend, whom many of you loved as much as you loved Marth himself! We are welcoming our very own_ Roy_ back to Brawl, my friends!"

Marth's jaw dropped. Roy whirled to face Marth, his expression bewildered.

"Did you know this?" he demanded, having to shout to be heard over the ecstatic screams of those around him.

Marth shook his head wordlessly, his mind spinning as he tried to figure out what the heck had just happened.

"And it has become apparent to us that Roy is here in the stadium now!" the announcer roared as soon as he could be heard over the crowd.

"DANG IT!" Marth yelped, his eyes widening. "They know we're here! _Roy, get down!_" He tried to shove his friend behind a seat even as the spotlight spun their way, but Roy startled him by smacking his hand away and standing, opening his hands wide to accept the praises and screams of the frenzied people all around him.

"Roy, what are you…?" Marth breathed; suddenly feeling like someone had stuck a knife in his back.

Roy turned to look at Marth, his expression hard. "You_ did_ know about this, didn't you?"

"No, I _swear_ I didn—!"

"Don't lie," Roy snarled. "And even if you did, I was only of use to you as a pawn. You may have been glad to see me, but you just wanted to use me, didn't you? You wanted to use me as your pawn to get yourself back into the game, and then you were going to tell me to go back to Lycia, weren't you? Deny it!"

"Roy…!" Marth gave a last attempt, practically hearing his plans start to crumble around his ears. "Roy, that's not what it was! I asked you to help because I knew you _could!_ If I was able to get back in, we could arrange for you to get back in too! Roy, you can't go in there! You can't join in—they'll mess with your head!"

"Yeah? Or maybe you're just saying that. Maybe you just don't want me to take your place."

"ROY!" Marth bellowed. "You will be making a _huge_ mistake if you let yourself get sucked in now! I _swear _on my_ father's grave _I will help you get back into the game if that's what you want, but this is NOT the way to do it! Listen to yourself! You sound like one of _THEM!_"

That last sentence had enough of an effect to make Roy blink, and Marth allowed himself to entertain a small hope that maybe…

"Roy! Come on down here! We have a special place for you!" the announcer called, and Roy turned to walk towards the isle as if pulled by an invisible string.

"Don't!" Marth cried. "You have no idea! _ROY!_ Don't you dare ignore me!"

"I'm sorry," Roy sighed. "I want to help you get back in, I really do. But I _won't_ myself be thrown out again. I _will not_. Let me know if you manage to get word to the inside. I'll be there, to help, I guess. If you need it."

"_SHEIK IS DATING IKE!_" Marth screamed. Roy jerked to a stop and whirled on his heel, his blue eyes sparking.

"I guess I'll just have to remind everyone who came first then," he said, his voice bitter. And then he turned around for a final time and continued down the stairs. He walked onto the stage with a huge grin on his face, as the original Fire Emblem boy was welcomed with open arms back into Brawl, leaving the second original to sink back into his seat and lower his head into his hands.

"And now!" the announcer shouted, oblivious to the drama that had just occurred. "Let us get on with the first fight! It's a lover's match—one I'm sure will be even more fantastic than Valentine's Day! I give you, Ike and Sheik!"

Marth roared obscenities as the doors opened, but his cry was lost in the excited shrieks of everyone else. Sitting in a chair close by the stage, Roy leaned on his elbow and settled back to watch the show.

**LOOOVE TRIANGLES! (sorry to people who don't like the pairings—I couldn't reisist. ;_;)**

**Once again, don't hate me for having Roy twist like that. Try to see things from his point of view! He had to leave the competition because (in my fic) his father needed him to come back for a war campaign. He's been trying to get back in ever since, but he can't because he's already been replaced with Ike. Then Marth gets kicked out and comes to Roy with his secondary goal (after getting rid of the counselors/etc) being to get HIMSELF back in. I can't imagine that Roy wouldn't be a little envious and willing to seize the first opporotunity that he could to get himself back in the game.**

**Ah well…Now Marth's in trouble again. XD I'm sorry for the angsty-ness of this chapter. I got next to no sleep last night…**

**Please review and tell me things I need to fix/if you liked(or didn't like) it/things you want to happen!**


	19. Chapter 19: The Divide pt 5

**Um…so, a lot of crazy things happened with this chapter: I uploaded it fine, but then I accidentally replaced it with Chapter 35 (loooong story) something like four months later, which is part 5 of a different arc. :\ And then I couldn't find my edited version of this chapter, I just had the rough version in my backup file soo…**

**Basically, I reuploaded this thing, so there are probably more typos that usual, and I have no idea who I thanked for reviewing in this chapter. :\ If you reviewed Chapter 18, then thank you, and I'm sorry I lost the section where I thanked everyone personally.**

**BAH. I'm an idiot. HUGE thank you to **_**LatteCurlz,**_** who was the one who pointed out the issue to me. I wouldn't have noticed for months, but thanks to her the problem was caught within a few days. :\ Very sorry to anyone who read Chapter 35 by accident and spoiled the whole Assassin arc for themselves. If you got spoiled, then let me know when you review the Assassin arc or PM me and I'll owe you a request chapter if you like. **

**To anyone reading this now for the first time, then just ignore that above rant, read, enjoy and review please!**

**Disclaimer: Nobody belongs to me. (AGH! I cannot believe I did that! Sorry to everyone waiting on this chapter! X_x)**

**Chapter 19: The Divide: Part 5**

Marth was working frantically in the stands to salvage what was left of his plans, plotting with a near hysterical intensity as he worked feverishly over a scrap of paper he had found on the ground. He was hunched over in his seat, trying to stay out of view of the cameras which swept the crowd all too often.

Meanwhile, on the stage, Ike and Sheik came out from separate doors and faced each other over the Pokemon style stage, which was obviously an attempt to get the crowd excited about Mewtwo's return and forget about Quincy's absence.

Both were uncomfortable, seeing as the new rules meant that they would no longer be able to attack each other playfully as they had on Valentine's Day. Now they would have to attack to injure, to hurt, and neither one of them liked that at all.

"You know how I said I was sorry a week ago?" Sheik said quietly as she pulled her mask up farther on her face.

"Yeah?" Ike answered, holding his sword loosely in his hand and still trying to decide if he could actually swing it at Sheik if he had the chance.

"Well, I lied then. I wasn't really sorry." She inhaled deeply. "And now I am."

"Me too," Ike said.

"It's not your fault," she told him. "No matter what happens, it's not your fault."

"I don't think—" Ike started to say, but then a horn blared, and they leapt at each other, knowing that they would be in worse trouble if they didn't.

Genevieve had caused this. Genevieve had forced them to fight. It had been her 'judgment' for finding them breaking the rules. They would fight until one was unable to stand. It was the worst punishment she could have inflicted upon them. No matter who won, they would have to live with the fact that the one they loved had done this to him, or they had done this to the one they loved. Both outcomes were equally torturous.

Sheik whirled as Ike attempted a grab to her shoulder, leaving her whole side wide open instead of guarding as she normally would have. His hand tightened on the sword handle as his reflexes screamed for his arm to swing, but he couldn't. Taking the cheap shot in a fight where she could bounce right back up was different than taking a cheap shot in a fight where he had to knock her all the way down and keep her down to win.

Instead, he feigned left and ducked under her spinning arm, only to catch her leg in his chest. The shot had been originally intended for his head—another cheap shot—but it had been pulled at the last moment, the target lowered. Sheik danced away, pressing a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache.

"You okay?" Ike couldn't help asking. He hadn't thought he hit her, but…

Both hands were clenched now in front of her face, so he couldn't tell what she was thinking. Realizing that they were going to get in serious trouble if they didn't keep the fight going, Ike hefted the sword to his side and dashed at Sheik, determined to do _something._ He could knock her out fast; he could probably make it so it wouldn't hurt too much. Or he could feign the move and make her hit him…

Either way, he was going to hit this time—his arm came up, and Sheik slumped.

"Sheik!" Ike cried, abandoning the strike to drop to his knees next to her, catching her shoulders before her head could strike against the hard ground. Her eyes were closed, her blondish hair spilling over her face. His hand scrabbled for her wrist to feel for a pulse, but both of her wrists were tightly wrapped. So was her neck.

What had happened? Had he hit her—no! He would have known if he had hit her. His sword was lying on the ground next to him.

Medics were pouring out onto the field to see what had happened and Ike looked up at the Megatron TV to see the replay. From the camera angle, he saw his arm and the hilt of his sword disappear behind his body, and then Sheik had collapsed. It looked like he had struck her. Other shots from different angles were shown as well, but the actual strike was always blocked by one of their bodies.

Ike staggered back from the stage, realizing that, somehow, Sheik had managed to knock herself out. Whether by not breathing or pressing a pressure point or what, he didn't know. But she had done it.

She had done it so he didn't have to.

Unfamiliar emotions welled in him, and he ran from the stage, partly because he knew he was cracking, partly because he knew that if Sheik woke up on the stage while he was still they, they might make her continue fighting. And that would defeat the purpose of her whole little demonstration.

As he ran, he caught sight of a red-haired boy standing on the sidelines, glaring daggers at him. Ike didn't even give the punk a second glance. He had to get away.

When he was about three steps away from the door, a crumpled piece of paper smacked into the ground right by his left foot, thrown with such force that it actually kicked up a small cloud of dirt from the stage floor. He turned to see the red-haired boy's blue eyes blazing as he looked up into the stands. Ike followed the boy's gaze on an instinct and for a moment thought he saw Marth's white face looking at him. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? Marth was in exile.

But what if…

Ike made a snap decision and scooped up the piece of paper, and then ran off of the stage as a chorus of boos erupted from the audience.

**Xx Several minutes earlier xX**

Up in one of several operations booths, Genevieve bit lazily into an apple that was the same color as her curly hair. The Fire Emblem counselor had confided in her that Marth's file had shown him to have a strong connection with the exile Roy, and suggested that when Marth left, he might try to meet up. From there what the exiles would do was unclear, but Genevieve had a hunch that Marth at least might try coming back. His type weren't the sort to admit defeat gracefully.

And sure enough, he showed up. And (surprise!) he had Roy with him. Albeit, the prince was wearing a hat, so they probably wouldn't have spotted him were it not for Roy's bright hair. Suddenly, a plan had presented itself that would solve two problems in one. Marth obviously had some plan including Roy—if they were able to get Roy away from him, they would have bought some more time. They also conveniently needed a Fire Emblem replacement that wouldn't cause much trouble, and Roy would probably be so glad to be back he wouldn't mind the rules change. Besides, it would be entertaining to see Marth's reaction when they took his ace in the hole away from him.

"Keep at least one camera on Marth," she told the crewmen after relaying her plan to the announcer. "If he as much as sneezes, I want someone to tell me."

No sooner had they said that did one of the guys—a teen with a baseball cap on his head backwards—turn around to say, "We just lost him. He ducked down or something."

Genevieve reclined in her chair like a contented cat, twirling her apple core between her fingers. "Well, I suppose we can't do much about that. Keep a camera in that area in case he decides to pop back up again. In the meantime, just focus on the fight. It should be…interesting."

The men obliged, having grown used to Genevieve stalking in and commanding things. A few had resisted, but they had been fired within seconds of their uprising.

"Oh come on," she rolled her eyes several seconds into the fight. "They'll have to do better than that."

Then Sheik collapsed, and the small room suddenly exploded into action. Suddenly calls were being made for replays and different cameras. A chorus of commands flooded the small space, Genevieve's voice barely cutting through.

"Did he hit her?" she demanded.

"We can't tell," the men relayed back. "Either he hit her, or they've planned this thing expertly. All of the angles are blocked."

"Then go back to the stage!" she snapped. "Make sure nothing else has happened!"

The main screen blipped back to the stage, where Sheik was slowly waking up and rubbing at her head…and Ike was nowhere to be seen.

"Boys, where did Ike go?" Genevieve asked, her voice deceptively calm.

The techs worked to rewind the footage they had, and finally the same man with the baseball hat turned around to say, "He ran off."

"Did he now?" Genevieve grumbled, her good mood ruined.

"Wait!" a techie shouted. "He picked something up off of the stage."

"Like what?" she snapped.

"Like a piece of paper," the guy said, sounding confused. "I never would've placed him to be against litterbugs."

Genevieve was suddenly struck by a horrible idea and snapped forward in her seat, her hair flying in a demonic halo around her face. "Get that camera on Marth!"

The camera that was focused on the bleachers blinked back on, and just caught a grinning Marth flipping off the camera before he dashed out of its view.

"Find him!" Genevieve shrieked and the camera started to pan across the audience, but Marth's one-up mushroom cap couldn't be seen anywhere in the nearby vicinity.

"Remember that this is _Marth_ we're talking about," one of the geekier men murmured. "He could be gone already if he wanted to."

"Then find Ike!" Genevieve screeched. "I want that note! We can't have Marth screwing our stuff up again!"

**xXx**

Ike stripped off his costume as fast as possible, not trusting himself to look at the note—for he realized belatedly that that was what he held—until he was in a place that he knew for a fact had no cameras. The zoom capabilities on the newer models were incredible; easily fifty times what he could see back home with a telescope.

He shoved the clothes into his locker and kicked the door shut with unlaced tennis shoes, not particularly caring when the latch didn't catch and half of the things fell right back out again.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon," he hissed as he shouldered open a bathroom stall and locked himself into it. Then did he allow himself to unfold the note. He had to admit he was a little disappointed—it looked as if the note was only a few sentences. The fact that it was written in Marth's deceptively feminine handwriting did little to comfort him.

_'Ike, read fast—they were onto us from the minute we came in.'_ There was the word 'stupid' written after that, but it had been heavily crossed out. _'Roy's back. Roy = the guy you replaced. Red hair, easily annoyed, you'll know him when you see him. He's screwed up, so try to get him out of your way without actually ticking him off. Just hold in there. Part A of the plan didn't work, but I can still do part B without the little…'_ Here there was a whole line of words scribbled out, most of them inappropriate. _'Tell as many people you can that I'm on this. I'll be poking my head in sooner or later, and I need as many people ready to move as soon as I get there, 'K? Including Roy, if at all possible. Include the baddies too—Ganon and D and everyone. Anyone and everyone, 'K? We need to do this.'_

And then, at the bottom, there were three last sentences that weren't quite as cryptic.

_'Sorry about you n' S. Tell the kids I say hi. Keep an eye on Sam for me.'_

Ike flushed the note down the toilet, wondering absently if Marth had abbreviated Samus' name for convenience, or if the two of them had some sort of nickname system he was unaware of.

Booted feet clomped into the bathroom, and a gruff voice asked if he was alright.

Ike stuck his head out of the stall, trying to look as if he'd recently been sick. He pulled off the look remarkably well. "Yeah, I'm just…" He let himself sway a little and grabbed hold of the stall door. "…Drained, I guess."

The man shrugged. "Aren't we all?"

Ike looked away, wondering if he really had to fake the tortured look he was trying to put into his eyes. He was determined to give Genevieve something to think about. If she wanted to break him, then he would break for her.

But broken people sometimes made the best warriors.

Because they no longer had anything to lose.

**xXx**

Quincy was sitting in a chair on the outside deck when he caught a flash from the portal in the corner of his eyes.

Scarcely daring to believe what he was seeing, he lurched to his feet and leapt out into the grass, ignoring the dull throb from his head.

There was a second flash, and this time something flew out of the portal at an awkward angle and tumbled down the small hill that lead down into the road. There was a small 'thump' immediately followed by a bellowed "OW! _SON _OF A—!"

Quincy barreled over the lip of the small incline and nearly lost his balance as well as he tripped over the portal base; it really was set up in an awkward place. He would have to talk to his parents about shifting it. He had fallen more than once trying to time his own exit, and he knew in advance about the hill.

He tried to find the fallen person in the tall grass and finally spotted the top of a striped hat, which was yanked off to reveal blue hair as a hand probed at what was probably going to be a nasty bruise.

"_Marth?_" Quincy yelped.

Marth looked at Quincy over his shoulder and managed a grin/wince as he rubbed at the back of his head. "I did get the right place after all. I was worried for a moment when I didn't see your house."

"My house is the other direction," Quincy explained. "Why are you here? Did you hit your head? Are you okay? What's going on?"

"Part B," Marth said. "Yes, no, and the world has gone completely insane."

Quincy blinked, startled. "Um…okay. How can I help?"

Marth pulled another grimace. "You could start by getting me an ice pack. We can work from there."

Quincy nodded and started to run back up the hill, suddenly feeling elated. He hadn't been forgotten after all! Here was the proof! Marth had come to see him; Marth obviously needed his help. _His!_

Feeling positively giddy, Quincy whooped loudly at the cloudless blue sky as he ran, feeling the first spark of hope he had felt in the last week.

…**so I think I caught all the typos, and I don't think I changed anything major in the editing process….**

**So…everything should be back to normal now. I'm so sorry again to anyone who got spoiled. X_x **

**A/N: Yes, Marth totally did just fall down a hill. He fails like that.**

**Please review!**


	20. Chapter 20: The Divide pt 6

**YAY! CHAPTER 20!**

**Thank you all for bearing with me as I steadily work my way through what is turning out to be a very gripping anime. XD Seriously. Cannot stop watching. I was writing this while I waited for episodes to load on the computer (If there are any mistakes, now you know why ;_;).**

**But anyway! Onto the story itself!**

**Thanks to **_**RaymondDullstone, Lord Lithos Maitreya, Sir Starll, PKLOVEOMEGA, Mariko Midori, Azura, Foxpilot, Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz, Clara the Wolf, Upsilon Four, SgtPeppersLHCB, and Rawkhhawk2.0**_**. Sadly, it's gotten to the point where if I respond to each reviewer individually, this section will simply get too long. Please understand that I mean that as a compliment! I LOVE all of your reviews. They usually make me smile or laugh. Please keep it up; I will read and love them all! I'm going to make some general remarks that most reviewers seemed to write about instead of responding individually (if enough people make a fuss though I might have to go back…): Yes, Marth epically failed when he fell down the hill. He's a talented lad. XD Genevieve IS a jerk, and you all have permission to start an Anti-Genevieve club if you like, but I'm telling you now she won't be around much longer (hooray!). The MouseMaster is exhausted. What else is new? Please regard me kindly and keep it up, even though this section will no longer be as extensive as it used to be! **

**Disclaimers: None of the SSBB/SSMM/Pokemon/Fire Emblem things belong to me. Neither does Shigeru Miyamoto-Sama. He's actually a real person, thus making him kind of hard to steal. **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review! I love all of the reviewers and favers!**

**Chapter 20: The Divide: Part 6**

"What did Marth give you?" the red haired boy bellowed at Ike as the latter exited the locker room and waved off the man who had come out with him. Ike recognized him from the stage and made the connection with the note; this must be the _'red haired, easily annoyed'_ kid that Marth had warned him about. He definitely looked 'easily annoyed' at the moment. He practically had steam coming out of his ears.

"Nothing," Ike shrugged, yanking on the strings of his sweatshirt to make them a bit more even. The kid—Roy—stalked up to him as if he could actually hurt Ike and glared up at him.

Ike couldn't help it; he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Roy snapped.

"I'm sorry," Ike chuckled. "It's just…" He covered his mouth with his hand and bit his lip in an attempt to be polite. "I'm sorry."

"_What?_" Roy asked irritably, his blue eyes flashing.

"You're just so…_short_," Ike smirked, gesturing with his hand to the top of Roy's head, which only came up to a little past Ike's shoulder. "I was expecting someone bigger, you know?"

Roy scowled, his face flushing. "Look, just stay the heck away from Sheik, alright?"

Ike blinked. Of all the things he expected, that wasn't it.

How was he supposed to respond to that?

**xXx**

"Are you sure you're alright?" Quincy's mother fussed over Marth, who was holding an ice compress to his head and sprawled out across one of the living room couches.

"I'm _fine_," Marth insisted, trying to get up for the seventh or eighth time only to be gently pushed back down again. "Really. I've had much worse, you don't need to worry. I once broke three ribs during the war and I wasn't treated with the same kindness then as you've given me now for a little bruise."

Quincy's mother grinned, suddenly quite taken with her son's friend, and finally left him and Quincy alone as she went back into the kitchen.

"You have a nice mom," Marth said lightly as he sat up and tossed the ice pack onto the coffee table.

Quincy squirmed, embarrassed. "She's always been kind of clingy."

"Don't worry about it," Marth shrugged, propping his elbows up on his knees as he shot a glance towards the doorway. "Do you think your mom would let you come with me later today?"

"Why…?" Quincy asked.

The Altean grinned. "We're getting back into Brawl, my friend. But we need a large group of people so I wanted to get as many people as I know in on this as possible. I tried going to Roy first, but you probably saw how _that_ worked out, didn't you?"

Quincy shook his head. "No, we don't get Brawl out here anymore. Our cable got knocked out about a month ago by a Skarmory with a broken wing."

Marth looked hopelessly lost, his cobalt eyes uncomprehending.

"A very big bird ran into our antenna," Quincy simplified, making gestures with his hands to help elaborate. He mimicked an explosion. "No more TV."

"_Oh_," Marth laughed, and then stood up to stretch. "Well, the point is that things are screwed up and I want you to help sort them out. Will you come?"

"Of course!" Quincy enthused. "Just let me grab my bag, we can go right away!"

"No we can't," Marth sighed. "We have to wait until all the fuss has died down at the stadium. Then we'll go."

"Fuss?" Quincy echoed, sitting down on the couch.

Marth laughed to himself. "Yeah. There was a bit of an issue between myself and the lovely Genevieve. You remember her?"

Quincy had burst into bitter laughter at the phrase 'lovely Genevieve.'

"You're going to get back at her, right?" he asked vehemently.

Marth shrugged and tried to lace his fingers behind his head before remembering his bruise and cringing. "We'll have to see how things work out."

**xXx**

"Look," Ike told Roy, thinking that he had to convince this little kid they were on the same side ASAP. "Whatever it is with you and Sheik, I don't care." He waved his hands in the air and continued to speak quickly when he saw Roy's face harden. "Which isn't saying that I'm going to completely ignore you. You were here first, okay? I get that. You have first dibs."

Roy looked pleased with that.

"But you need to get what I'm saying now, kid."

"Don't call me 'kid!'" Roy blurted.

"Fine!" Ike snapped. "Frankly, I could care less about you right now. I don't care if you hate me. I don't care if you love Sheik. At the moment, _I_ don't care that I love Sheik—and I'll remind you that you're…what, thirteen years old? Fourteen?"

"Fifteen."

"There is_ no_ way," Ike whistled. Roy's eyes sparked. "But my point is that nothing is set in stone at all, okay? None of that matters at the moment. You can challenge me to a rival's brawl or something after all this is over and you can try to beat me up and steal the girl all for yourself. I don't care. What matters now is getting rid of Genevieve so we can all get our lives back! You haven't been here for longer than five minutes, so how the heck do you know what's going on? Maybe _you're_ a ruthless backstabbing teenager, but _I'm not!_" Ike was startled to hear how much emotion he was putting into his words. He was almost shouting. This whole Genevieve thing had been bothering him more than he thought. "I came here because I wanted a break of all that. I wanted a place where I could do what I was good at without worrying about hurting people—and now they _want_ us to hurt people! Are you honestly okay with that? If someone handed you a sword and told you to slash at someone—at _Sheik_—with the intention of cutting them to ribbons could you do it?"

For once, Roy didn't have a snappy answer.

"Of course you couldn't," Ike whispered, starting to wind down. "Because Marth's said that you're a good kid."

Roy suddenly couldn't seem to make eye contact and lowered his gaze to the floor.

"Look," Ike said, alarmed to hear his own voice shake a little. "I know you didn't want to leave this place. It's a great place. I get that now. But this is not the same place you left, okay? I'm not asking you to like me. I'm not asking you to let me take your place. I'm asking you to make your own place again. I'm asking you, Roy, to help me make Brawl what it was again, so you can enjoy the real thing."

Roy blinked, still at a loss for words. His hands were clenched at his sides.

"So will you help me?" Ike asked quietly, and offered the Fire Emblem boy his hand.

**xXx (AN: and thus a wonderful friendship was born!...Or not. XD *shot*)**

Samus had basically locked herself in her room for a week, only coming out for meals and brawls. She stayed in her room mainly because she didn't see much point in coming out, secondly because so long as she was in her room, she could make sure that no one else came in her room.

"Can you at least talk to me?" she asked that night, crouching down to the slumped figure curled up next to her bed. "Are you doing okay?"

Pit looked up at her despondently, his eyes hollow-looking and blank. Something flickered deep inside of them, and he seemed to muster a great amount of strength to sigh, "I'm alright."

Samus tucked a strand of hair behind her shoulder as she sat down cross-legged next to the angel. His room had been across the hallway from hers. She heard him screaming in the night and, after checking to see if the hallway was clear of undesirables, ducked into his room to see what was wrong. Since then, he had sort of been hibernating in her room. Almost completely catatonic. She hadn't gotten him to tell her exactly what had happened yet, but she couldn't bring herself to kick him out. If he wanted to sleep on the floor all day, that was fine with her. It gave her someone to talk to, even though she was sure that he wasn't really listening.

Something flipped underneath her door. Standing up and absently tugging on the hem of her tank-top to roll it down past the top of her pajama shorts (it kept riding up), she could see that it was a piece of white paper. Great. More announcements.

She reached over to her bedside table and picked up her set of heavy duty, sound-canceling headphones and snapped them over her ears, reducing the rest of the world to a dull buzz of static. Her hands automatically sought out her MP3 player and pressed the 'shuffle songs' button as she forced herself to crouch down next to the door to try and pry the note away from her carpet without tearing up her nails.

Unfortunately, the first random song her MP3 dragged up was one that Marth had recommended to her; 'Grace Kelly.' With a soft yelp, she yanked off the headphones and sent them skittering against the floor, where they banged against Pit's leg. He looked up, but he was too exhausted to be surprised—he hadn't gotten more than three consecutive hours of sleep the entire week.

Scowling at her mutinous music player, she finally got the note in her hands and tugged down on her tank-top again so as not to accidentally moon the angel lying unresponsive behind her. The first word of the note was enough to make her heart skip.

_'Marth says we're getting out of this. He says we have to be ready to move at any time. Be ready. If you want to get rid of the counselors and the stupid rules, then trust him. Doesn't matter if you hate him or love him or don't know him at all—he's got some idea. Be ready to move if you want things to be back to normal.'_

The cryptic note was typewritten, but there was something written underneath in a handwriting that Samus thought was Ike's but couldn't be sure—his and Link's handwriting were remarkably similar. _'Marth says hi, "Sam." ;) What's all that about?'_

Samus slid back onto the floor, unsure what to feel.

"What is it?" Pit asked weakly.

"He says we have to move…whatever that means," Samus said, crumpling the note up in her palm.

**xXx**

"Sooo…." Quincy was saying as he blew into his cold hands and took the video camera that Marth offered him. The whole device had been rewired courtesy of one Professor Oak, one of Quincy's parents' friends, and now it was hooked up to a laptop that Marth had propped up on his knee. The glow from the screen made his face look paler than it already was in the twilight. They were camped out just below the Brawl stadium, putting final touches on what Marth assured Quincy would be a fairly easy plan to execute. Quincy found that sort of hard to believe, considering that Marth had been on the phone for the majority of the afternoon, speaking in rapid-fire Japanese to at least ten different people. Any time not spent on the phone was spent peering over Professor Oak's shoulder and asking questions.

"So what?" he asked testily—he had been getting increasingly more anxious as the day wore on.

"So what do you need me for?" Quincy asked meekly. "You obviously have a better idea what you're doing."

"I'm doing the talking, you're doing the recording. You're my camera guy. I can't do both," Marth explained. "Some people need to see this."

"'Some people?'" Quincy asked as he yanked his baseball cap off one to run his hands through naturally spiked hair. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm proving to the higher-ups that their 'trinkets' aren't responding well to the new leadership."

Quincy rubbed absently at the still swollen shadow on his cheek, wondering if Pit and Pikachu were still okay. "How are you doing—Oh! With the video camera!"

"Exactly," Marth nodded, pleased that Quincy had gotten it. "But you have to understand that this is all extremely last minute. I had originally planned to stage a protest or something, but considering the fact that Roy went by the way of Benedict Arnold, I couldn't do that anymore. We need complete cooperation for this to make the right impact."

"But from what you said it sounded like Roy's not going to cooperate at all," Quincy protested.

"Roy's not an idiot," Marth said, then cracked a grin and revised. "Not a_ complete_ idiot, anyway. He'll have realized how bad things are from the moment he stepped inside. Or someone will have initiated him—hopefully in a very rude and eye-opening way. The twerp deserves it. But now the protest idea won't work as well, seeing as Roy joined their little party about eight hours ago. Now we're doing a combination of two things."

"Which are…?"

"A walkout and poetic justice," Marth grinned, his teeth flashing in the light from his computer screen. He stood up and shifted the laptop to his left arm as he picked up a long coil of what looked like rope. "You swear this will work?"

"It's an escape rope," Quincy nodded. "If we can get it up to the stadium somehow, it'll pull us up. I've seen these things take the weight of a Snorlax before and be totally fine."

Marth pretended to know what a Snorlax was and internally wished that Quincy would stop using references that he didn't understand. It wasn't like_ he_ blabbed on about Dracoknights and battle strategies all day. "Right. Take out your Char-whatchamacallit, please. It's going to have to fly the rope up there to latch onto one of the window sills."

"Got it," Quincy nodded, suddenly feeling very espionage-y as he pulled out Charizard's Poke Ball and chucked it at the ground at a precise angle so that it released the pokemon as it struck the ground and then bounced back into his hand. He gave Charizard the rope to hold in its hands and—when Charizard briefly refused to move—kicked the pokemon's side softly.

"Isn't that animal abuse or something?" Marth asked as the larger pokemon took flight into the dark sky.

"Nah," Quincy shrugged. "Just Ball-sleepiness. They don't like moving immediately after being released if they don't have to."

Marth nodded, watching the rope uncoil as his feet as the pokemon flew it higher. "So you're absolutely positive this thing will hold our weight?" he asked for the second time.

Quincy shot Marth a surprised look, and then said in a voice of mock horror, "Marth! I never would have guessed the Prince of Altea to be scared of heights!"

"Oh shut up."

**xXx**

Ike finished shoving the little slips of the paper under everyone's door and leaned against the wall at the end of the hallway, wondering what else he could do to speed things along. He had no idea when Marth would be coming. It could be in another week, or it could be in the next thirty seconds. Who knew?

He started to turn around to go back to his room to brainstorm when he bashed into someone's head.

"Jeez, I'm sorr—" he started to say, then recognized curly red hair and continued with, "Actually, no I'm really not."

Genevieve held up a slip of white paper in-between her fingers. "So what's this, Ike? Just something you thought you'd do for kicks?"

Ike enjoyed a moment of blissful detachment—he honestly didn't care what she did to him anymore. "Whose door did you get that from? I hope they read it first."

"Don't worry," Roy said, stepping out from behind Genevieve. "I did."

Ike scowled.

"Really, Ike," Genevieve murmured, taking a step closer and officially putting herself inside Ike's personal bubble. "Why must you make so much trouble? It's getting ridiculous."

"Really, do you mind?" he snapped, all but shoving her away from him. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a few Brawlers filing silently out into the hallway behind the newly traitorous Roy, but he no longer cared.

He tried to push past her, not seeing her hand flash towards his face when he did so. He recognized the movement an instant too late and staggered back against the wall, his hand flying up to block a hand that had already cracked across his cheek.

Ike wasn't sure what he had expected when Genevieve slapped him. An angry mob maybe? At the very least, he had expected someone to shout something—preferably something profane. But there was just silence.

"See, Ike?" Genevieve said, her flushed face smug. "They all have moved on, accepting the problem. But you're so stubborn that you can't. Or maybe it's not a question of stubborn-ness, maybe it's a question of intelligence, hm?"

"If Ike is stubborn, what does that make me?" Roy suddenly barked, making Genevieve turn around in surprise.

"I mean," Roy continued harshly. "At least Ike knows that what he's doing is worth being stubborn for. But me? I'm just an idiot." He smiled softly. "So I guess all I can do is try to change, right?"

Genevieve blanched.

Ike blinked, unable to process what he was hearing as he cupped a hand to his stinging face.

"Smile, Genevieve," Roy whispered. "You're live in Japan."

And then he stepped aside to reveal Quincy, and the video camera he was holding with the little red light pulsing gently on the side. Quincy let go of the recorder to make a hand gesture that a kid his age probably shouldn't know (he learned from Marth), waggling the offending fingers as he cackled evilly behind the camera.

Genevieve made a sound sort of like the sound a cat makes when unexpectedly thrown into the bathtub.

"Say hi," Quincy suggested.

"You should actually say _'konnichiwa,'_" Marth said, stepping out from behind Ganondorf, holding a laptop with a live feed from the camera shown on the screen. "And then, I might suggest that you continue with _'gomenasai, Miyamoto-Dono'_? It means, 'I'm very sorry—'"

"I know what it means!" Genevieve spat.

Marth smiled slyly as he stepped in front of the camera, spreading his arms wide as he addressed the internet audience. "Good evening, Sir." He sketched a small bow towards the camera. "I think that after that little demonstration…" He gestured vaguely towards Ike, who was still standing up against the wall. "…We are all ready to begin."

**Yep. I loved writing Quincy's mom and Marth talking. XD It was fun. And the whole Ike/Roy thing was entertaining too...And Marth is secretly afraid of heights! Who would have thought? ;P**

**The next chapter will be the last one. I figured that this whole mess started with a Marth monologue, so I'm ending it with one as well. I'm sorry if it seemed to wrap up a little too quickly, but I was ready to be done with this thing. ;_; Forgive me.**

**Please review!**


	21. Chapter 21: The Divide pt 7

**HOORAY! 151 REVIEWS! *throws confetti at Hershel the plot bunny, who then tries to eat it***

**Okay, I lied; I'm going back to my old way of thanking reviewers. I like it better. :) Ignore the length. **

**Thanks to _Sir Starll_; yes, I'm back to the original way of reviewing. XD And I was never really into Pokemon, so I'm sorry I messed up the Skarmory thing. ;_; ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; Yep, Quincy is turning out to be a naughty child. XD ~ Thanks to _RaymondDullstone_; Wow, you were waiting a whole week? I feel loved. :) Yes, Pit needs some help. I'll deal with that eventually. ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; The anime I'm so tied up in is actually Death Note, if you can believe that. Agh…I'm a horrible person, but I'm so caught up in it. XD "Justice will prevail!" ~ Thanks to _Jenakin Ramsobi_; Thanks for jumping on the bandwagon—and no, I've never read the fanfic that Quincy almost quoted (creeeeepy). ~ Thanks to _Upsilon Four_; Quick! Charge the iPod! Their batteries are so short, right? ~ Thanks to _PKLOVEOMEGA_; No! Marth is mine! (jk!) And yes, Roy is short. It's part of his charm. XD ~ Thanks to _RawkHawk2.0_; Roy IS staying! ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; WOOT! Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to _Azura_; that was possibly one of the funniest reviews I've ever read. I almost fell out of my chair laughing about poor Scampers. XD Thanks! (Yes~the~tilde~is~squigly~XD) ~ And a final thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Last chapter! They'll be back to normal soon!**

**So apparently I freaked a few people out when I said that this chapter would be the next one. Don't worry, I'm only done with the arc. THE STORY GOES ON! Still, I was touched by how many people were actually upset. XD That's awesome! Please keep it up! **

**Disclaimer: No SSBB/Nintendo people, fictional or living belong to me. And while I'm here, please pray for Japan and their tsunami/earthquake disaster. ;_; **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review! (and please ignore any typos-I'm awful at catching them)**

**Chapter 21: The Divide: Part 7**

"Sir," Marth said to the camera. "I believe that after what you just saw, there is now no doubt about what Genevieve has planned to do to this place—what she's already done to this place."

"He doesn't understand you!" Genevieve screeched, grasping at straws.

"Of course he does," Marth said matter-of-factly. "Like most Japanese, he has a rudimentary grasp of English. And even though he might not understand everything I say, I made sure there was a translator there as well who can." His eyes flashed as he turned on his heel to look at the assembled brawlers, and then back at Ike. "Sorry about your face. I didn't expect that."

"How did you get here?" Ike demanded.

"Through Pit's window," Marth said in a 'duh' sort of tone. "By the way, where is Pit? He wasn't in his room."

"He's here," Samus said, herding the angel out from behind her back. Marth worked hard to tear his eyes away from Samus in her pajamas, feeling as if he had been away from Brawl for much longer than a week, and looked down at Pit. The sight made his stomach drop, as if he had missed a step on a staircase.

"Pit!" Quincy screeched, nearly dropping the camera. "What happened to you? !"

Marth was momentarily at a loss for words. Pit looked _haunted._ His eyes were deep set in dark pools of shadow and looked…lost.

"What happened to him?" he asked Samus, his blue eyes meeting her own desperately. He had prepared himself for big changes, but for some reason he never guessed something would happen to someone so innocent.

"I don't know," Samus breathed. "He had a mental breakdown or something."

Quincy made a sound that almost resembled a sob, but the hands that held the camera remained steady as he zoomed in on Pit's tortured face before returning to Marth.

Marth wanted to run to Pit and grab him by the shoulders and shake the youth until he returned to himself, but he forced himself to swallow his rising rage and channel it into more productive actions.

He spun on his heel, trying to appear much calmer than he felt as he shouted at the camera, "Sir, surely you cannot condone this! I'm not entirely sure what the plan was originally, but I hope dearly that Genevieve had deviated from it! If she_ is_ following your orders, well…" He clasped his hands behind his back, forcing his voice to quiet. "…Then our problems are bigger than I thought. I'm choosing to think that you would never deliberately order that. Whatever your plan originally was, it's gone wrong. Look, Sir," he continued. "I understand that you thought that cross-over relationships may have been a bad idea, but _just look at us!_" His voice rose again, and he quickly clamped down on his emotions before he started screaming. "Look at _Pit._ That's not right! Look, we can make this work, if you just give us a chance!"

Genevieve scowled. "Marth, you have no place here. There is no longer an 'us' that includes _you._"

"Maybe I don't," Marth snapped, his eyes flashing furiously. "But everyone else here does, Genevieve! How dare you ignore their wellbeing? ! You knew about Pit and you did _nothing_ to help him!"

Quincy panned over the crowd without having to be told to do so and settled on Pit for a moment before turning back to Marth.

"Roy does not!" Genevieve snapped, her hair flashing the color of fire in the florescent hallway lights. "Roy _stole_ your place! _He_ has no place here! _You_ should be standing where he stands and you both know that!"

Roy looked down at the ground.

Marth's expression didn't change. "All of us have a place here, Genevieve. It's you who doesn't belong."

It was the tone of his voice that made her snap. It was rebuking, but his voice somehow remained calm; almost gentle as he delivered the words softly.

Her head flipped up defiantly, red curls rippling off of her shoulders. "How dare you speak to me like that!"

"I will speak to you however I like!" Marth snapped, his voice rising to a yell as his brain was overrun with the simple desire to just _be rid_ of Genevieve and everything she stood for. "Seeing as I was dismissed from Brawl, you are no longer my senior! And besides, I can invoke my proper title of Altea if you wish—and in that case, _you_ should be the one guarding her tongue, not I!"

"Prince Marth is back," Link whispered to Samus, managing to sound annoyed and happy simultaneously. It was a rare occasion when the Brawlers were actually appreciating Marth's holier-than-thou speech.

"You are not a prince!" Genevieve cried. "You are a silly little boy from a make-believe world who refuses to be dragged into the real one!"

"Do you even realize that you're saying all of this on film?" Marth asked bitterly, gesturing towards Quincy.

"Besides," Marth snapped. "If I'm a silly little boy, then what are _you?_ A silly little woman?" He crossed his arms as Genevieve fumed. "If I'm in a fake world, then where are you? You say that I don't live in the real world, but what is real? Am I real? Are you real? Is Altea real? Is Earth really real, or is there something bigger that we can't see?"

About half of the Brawlers were stifling smiles at this point, and the others had tried to follow Marth's conversation and were on the verge of sitting down from dizziness.

When Genevieve didn't answer, Marth shrugged dismissively and then turned back to the camera. "Sir, I'm not sure if you heard my speech before I was promptly kicked out, so I'll restate. You treat us like your property, like you trinkets—your chess pieces, so to speak. My issue isn't really with that fact—we came here of our own free will, and gave you permission to order us around in exchange for you giving us a fun place to stay for awhile. This place was supposed to be _fun,_ as you recall. You told me that when you first invited me."

Genevieve started and then glared at the camera again. "He's delusional! He's totally insane! He actually believes that he's from somewhere else!"

"I _know_ I'm from somewhere else," Marth retorted, sparing a single glance at the red-haired woman before looking back at the camera. "Because I am definitely not from the same world as you. But you've probably never even tried a portal, so how would you know?" His mouth quirked up in a slightly unhinged grin. "Sorry, Sir. She keeps interrupting. I was about to say that you've created the perfect chess board out of you trinkets here. We're all resigned to be—we're usually _happy _to be—your knights, bishops, rooks, pawns…whatever. But what we object to…" He thrust a finger in Genevieve's direction. "…Is you trying to make_ her_ our queen.

"And mark my words, Sir; we came here of our own free will, and so help me we will _leave _here of our own free will if you back out on your end of the promise. You said we would have fun here—you _said_ we'd be _safe_ here!"

He pivoted in a slow circle, arms outstretched, and in that moment he looked nothing like a teenager in weathered jeans and an oversized sweatshirt; he looked like a king.

"Well look around!" he sneered. "We're _not_ having fun. We're _not_ safe. The king and queen are supposed to _protect_ their citizens. When a queen strikes her subject…" Marth extended a hand towards Ike; more specifically to the red smear that still marred his face. "…And ignores the needs of her people…" The hand moved towards Pit. "…Then she is no longer fit to be a queen! In Altea—and here too, I think—we have a different word for that: a tyrant!

"And do you know what happens when a country is ruled by a tyrant?"

"The prince runs away for two years? !" Genevieve screamed. "Leaving his mother behind to die? !"

Marth's face darkened. "Would you please make up your mind" he snapped, his voice tighter than it had been a moment ago. "Does Altea exist or does it not? Are you a queen or a tyrant?"

"I'm with Marth," Ike said bluntly, stepping up to put himself in the camera frame.

"Me too," Samus said, detaching herself from the crowd to come and stand by him as well.

Marth shook his head, and turned around to face Genevieve. "It's not like that. It's not who's with me; it's who I'm with." He stepped backwards, his back brushing against Link's sleeve as he stood with the Brawlers. Samus and Ike followed suit, blending back into the crowd as everyone simultaneously turned to face the same direction as Marth; at Genevieve. Quincy skipped backwards to catch the whole shot.

"I'm with these guys," Marth said. "And you're not, Genevieve." He smiled again, this time it was serene instead of unhinged.

"_Get out._ This is our land, and we won't have you messing it up." He shot a final glance at the camera. "So do you know what happens when a country is ruled by a tyrant, Sir? There's a revolution."

There was a long silence between the Brawlers and Genevieve, who was still standing defiantly in the hallway.

"Cut," Marth said softly after a few minutes.

The red light on Quincy's camera blipped off and the pokemon trainer set it down on the ground to come and join the group of Brawlers.

"Do you honestly think that's solved your problems? !" Genevieve laughed. "You're even more naive than I thought!"

Marth was no longer listening. He was crouched next to Quincy, who had run to his friend's side and was trying to talk to Pit, who looked as despondent as ever.

Link had taken up the head of the group, actually standing elbow to elbow with Ganondorf, of all people.

"Get out," he snapped at Genevieve, repeating Marth's words. "There's no place for you here anymore."

Ganondorf cracked his large knuckles ominously, wondering when he had started to enjoy this place so much that he was willing to stand next to this little 'hero' to continue it.

Genevieve was apparently startled by the short alliance as well, and started to say something when her phone chirped from a pocket.

"That'll be Miyamoto-Dono," Marth guessed. "I would advise you look at that."

She numbly plucked the silver device from her jacket pocket and flipped the phone open, looking at what appeared to be a text message with an odd expression on her face.

"Let's go," Marth said as he stood up, disappointed that Pit was still out of it. "No one here but people to leave, if you'll pardon the cliché. Come on, Roy, you can crash in my room tonight if they haven't given you a bedroom yet."

Roy blinked. He had been temporarily forgotten in the excitement of the moment, but now everyone turned in unison to look at him.

"You're not asking me to leave?" he asked after a moment.

Marth shrugged, and then looked at MewTwo, who was characteristically silent. "Do either of you _want_ to leave?"

"Well…" Roy frowned. "She was kind of right. I'm in your place."

"We can always have another Fire Emblem guy hanging around," Ike suggested. Roy's head snapped around to look at him, and Marth suppressed a smile, wondering what Ike had said to Roy to make him react that way.

"Besides, if you're leaving because you're ashamed of what you did, that's no better than just running away from your problems," Link supplied, then slung a brotherly arm around Roy's shoulder. "Besides, it's been way too quiet around here. Ike doesn't talk as much as you."

Roy's eyes sparkled briefly, then he blinked quickly several times and they were back to normal.

"Thanks," he whispered, his voice choked.

"I'll take my leave," MewTwo said in its deep voice. "I have better things to do."

Quincy saluted it, and it nodded briefly at the pokemon trainer and dipped its head politely at Marth. With no other words, MewTwo walked down the hallway towards the portal.

Ike smiled softly and turned around, pleased that things seemed to be working out. But the moment he turned around, he saw something that proved him wrong.

"MARTH!" he and Samus screamed at the same time, and the Altean whirled, unprepared, as Genevieve flung herself at him with an animalistic scream, murder in her bright eyes.

Marth started to yell a swear word but didn't have time to complete it before Genevieve was flung to the side—tackled by someone with wings.

Before anyone really had a chance to process what had happened, Pit back flipped off of Genevieve, his bare foot slamming into her neck, causing her to crumple.

He staggered back, his face dazed as he fell against Ike, who reflexively caught the angel's elbows to stop him from collapsing completely.

"Is it over?" Pit asked in a small voice, sounding as if he had woken up after a week-long sleep.

"Yeah," Ike told him as everyone looked at the unconscious Genevieve sprawled across the carpet, her red hair fanning around her head like some sort of sick halo, the sleek cell phone still in her hand with the text message 'contract terminated' written across the screen. "It's finally all over."

**So I actually wrote this whole chapter out a few days ago and then realized yesterday afternoon "Oh no! I completely forgot Pit!" so I had to go back and edit the whole thing. So I apologize if part(s) of it seems sort of spliced together, because it kind of was. ;_; **

**I couldn't bring myself to actually kill Genevieve, but she'll have a hard time finding a job after this little internet-published event…So there you go. **

**The next chapter is either going to be "Psychiatrists" or "The Beach," depending on which I feel like. XD**

**And I'm sorry about the wait in-between chapters—it's getting longer as I get caught up with other things. ;_; Hopefully they'll be back up to their normal speed soon!**

**Please review!**


	22. Chapter 22: Psychiatrists

**I apologize sincerely for the update delay! *bows* The good news is that I finished my anime, so updates will be more regular now. :) **

**Thank you to my many reviewers who have hopefully stuck it out through my otaku-ness; **

**~Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; no, I've never seen the Guernica, but the back-story does fit, doesn't it? ~ Thanks to **_**Clara the Wolf**_**; They'll be off to the beach soon! ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Hoooooly cow…that's an EPIC song. Dang. ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; I fix Pit back up in this chapter, don't worry. ;) ~ Thanks to **_**Azura**_**; Yes, 50% of the chapter was Marth talking. XD I'm glad you somehow think I pulled it off. Your reviews always leave me nearly falling off the chair I'm laughing so hard—keep it up! ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondDullstone**_**; Ack! Don't worry; the story won't be ending anytime soon. :) And I used your idea of Genevieve working in a fast food joint XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Wow, anyone who can quote Star Wars like that has my immediate respect. *bows* thank you. ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; state testing sucks, doesn't it? Thanks again for the ideas! ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; Marth is back, and Roy is….Roy. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; This is the last emo chapter, I swear…XD ~ And a final thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; WAY TO HACK THE SCHOOL COMPUTER! Kudos to you, my friend! That's dedication, right there! XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB or Pit, but Oliver V. Stoelhart is ALL mine! (you'll see what I mean) (I was too lazy to come up with an original character for the psychiatrist, so I borrowed him from my novel project. XD)**

**Apologies in advance; this chapter is a bit too dialogue-y in my opinion. ;_; After Marth's long rants, I'm having kind of a hard time writing the quiet characters again. XD**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 22: Psychiatrists**

"….Seriously?" Pit squeaked, trying to scramble away when he saw the label on the door that Samus and Ike were dragging him towards. Ike snagged the angel's elbow as he tried to make a dash away and continued walking, not acting at all like he was dragging a small teenager behind him.

"I don't need a psychiatrist!" Pit yelped, his voice rising to a higher decibel level than it had in a week and a half. "I'm not crazy!"

"Dude, you were camped out in my room for almost a week and you still wake up screaming at night," Samus sighed as she pulled up her shirt, the hem of which had been almost sliding off of her shoulder. "It's not really a question of whether you're crazy or not."

"But I'm not!" Pit protested. "You can't take me there! I want to go back to my room!" He struggled in Ike's grip, but Ike just grabbed him around the waist and flung the angel on his shoulder like the latter was simply a sack of potatoes.

"You jerk!" Pit screeched.

"Wow," Ike commented, continuing to walk with Pit slung over his shoulder. "I think that might have been the most offensive thing you've ever said to me."

Samus crossed her arms within the loose shirt she wore. "Hey Ike, if you've got him from here, I'm going to go eat lunch."

"See you," Ike said nonchalantly, wincing as Pit grabbed handfuls of his T-shirt and flapped his wings in Ike's face.

"_Put me down!_" Pit wailed.

"Fat chance."

"They're going to kill me!"

Ike stopped walking and tried to see Pit's face, but gave up. He'd need eyes in the back of his head to see at that angle. "Who's going to kill you?"

"….They are."

"Great," Ike grumbled, angling his head away so that Pit's wing didn't smack it again. "Now we've got a _paranoid_ sissy angel on our hands."

"I'm not sissy!"

Ike grinned as he maneuvered Pit on his shoulder so that he would have a free hand to open the door. "Sure you're not," he said cheerily as he plopped Pit down on the angel's feet just inside the door. "Now tell that to Dr. Stoelhart and maybe you'll be back in time for lunch."

"I thought the whole point of getting rid of Genevieve was so that we wouldn't have more people screwing around in our heads!" Pit screamed as Ike closed the door.

"We've always had a psychologist here, Pit," the Fire Emblem man sighed. "This is nothing new. Just try, okay?"

Pit whirled on his heel as the door latched, and suddenly was nearly overcome with the desire to run at the door and wrench at the handle. Somehow he swallowed the feeling, though his hands shook a little with the effort.

"Hey," a quiet, calm voice that sounded nothing like Genevieve's high-pitched tones called from across the room. Pit turned back around, tugging unhappily at the hem of his hand-me-down T-shirt with one of Marth's smart-aleck sayings on it, to see a young-looking man with black hair and piercing green eyes appraising him thoughtfully over interlaced fingers propped up on a wooden desk.

"Hey," the man repeated. "You want to sit down?" He gestured at a comfortable looking sofa that was in front of his desk.

Pit sat down awkwardly, refusing to lie down on the sofa like he had seen psychos do on TV, instead sitting with his back straight, both feet on the floor, and his wings outstretched a little behind him.

The man smiled warmly. "So you're Pit. I've heard some neat things about you."

Pit's new paranoia flared, but he somehow got up the courage to ask, "Like what?" He slouched a little against the sofa, starting to feel a bit comfortable. He noticed a nameplate on the man's desk that read 'Dr. Oliver V. Stoelhart' and wondered vaguely what the V stood for.

"Like you're an incredible fighter for someone your age," Dr. Oliver Stoelhart said, flipping through a small file that didn't look nearly as ominous as the one Ike had described for the Fire Emblem men. Maybe that was just because it wasn't as big. "Like you can fly," he gestured at Pit's wings, which the angel shyly folded behind his back so they were less visible. "And you seem like a pretty well rounded, well liked kid.

Pit tried not to squirm.

"So what happened?" the man asked. "Samus Aran says that you've been having nightmares? Do you remember them…?"

Pit shook his head violently, which Oliver immediately took to mean 'yes.'

"Tell me about them," he suggested.

"Nothing!" Pit protested. "I don't remember!"

Dr. Stoelhart sighed heavily, and then looked up at the angel, his green eyes shadowed. "Look, kid, I know you remember. Your lying doesn't change the fact that everyone knows something's up. It's clear that you haven't been able to fix this problem by yourself, so it'd be great if you could open up a bit."

Pit winced.

The man leaned back. "Look, whatever's got your shorts in a knot, you can tell me. I'm not going to tell anyone else. Confidentiality contract and all that."

Pit had been so startled by the phrase 'shorts in a knot' that he burst into tight, quiet laughter.

Oliver seemed willing enough to be laughed at and sat back in his chair with a smile on his face until Pit had finished. "See? You're getting better."

Pit instantly sobered. "No I'm not."

"Why aren't you?"

"_Because I killed Genevieve!_" Pit screeched suddenly, exploding to his feet as his wings snapped out reflexively behind him. "OKAY? !"

Oliver Stoelhart grinned and picked up a pen on his desk. "Now we're getting somewhere, kid. What do you mean you killed her? She's not dead. My info says that she's got a job at McDonalds about ten miles from here."

"But I _wanted_ to," the angel whispered. "I wanted to more than anything. I was sorry I hadn't when Ike made me stop."

Dr. Stoelhart, who Pit had expected to start writing with the pen, was instead twirling the writing device around his hands like a mini majorette's baton. "Why did you want to kill her?"

"I don't know!" Pit bellowed, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration. "She…Jeez….She screwed things up! She made me think weird things. She made me dream about hurt—" He cut himself off suddenly, clamping a hand over his own mouth before he said any more.

"What did you dream?" Oliver asked again, leaning forward so that his jade eyes flashed.

"I dreamt…" the angel said haltingly. "About hurting people. About killing people. And I dreamt that I didn't care—that it didn't bother me."

"Well there's your problem!" Dr. Stoelhart proclaimed with unusual optimism that made Pit think that he couldn't have been in the therapy business for very long. "You're scared that you have it in you to hurt people!"

Pit blinked, startled that this man had cut to the heart of the matter so quickly. Perhaps it wasn't that he was new to the business, just very good at his job.

"I guess it's something like that," he said, his voice a little hoarse.

"So you pulled into solitude to try and make sure that you never did hurt anyone accidentally!" Oliver exclaimed. "It makes sense now!"

"But I _did_ hurt someone!" Pit shouted. "I hurt Genevieve!"

"Look," Oliver said. "Pardon my language, but Genevieve was a—" Pit automatically blocked the word out. "—So there's nothing wrong with having strong feelings towards her. Dang, kid, you've been way too hard on yourself. Everyone has nightmares, but they're just dreams. Just because you dreamed you ran so-and-so through with your knife doesn't mean that you actually did it."

"But I _could!_"

"So could I," Oliver pointed out. "I could probably kill you with this pen right now if I seriously wanted to. That doesn't mean I'm going to. Even if I had a dream about killing you with this pen, I'm still sitting here right now, and you're still alive. You're not yourself when you dream, kid. It's just your subconscious screwing around."

"I could take you anyway," Pit murmured, starting to feel a flutter of his old self start to come back.

"Sure," Oliver said, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you need to tell yourself. But back to the original problem—you started to flip out that you were going down the road to darkness or whatever, so you started trying to separate yourself. Right?"

Pit nodded.

"So then you camped out in Samus's room for a bit, and then you saved one of the Fire Emblem guys. That's about it, right?"

"But I hurt people in the process," the angel pointed out quietly. "It's wrong to hurt people."

"Is it wrong to save people?" Oliver challenged.

"…No…"

"Well there's your answer."

Pit smiled hesitantly. "So…you don't think I'm losing it?"

Dr. Stoelhart leaned back in his chair and began flipping his pen again. "You, my feathery friend, are definitely not losing it. You just slipped. Everyone does that once in awhile."

"You don't think I'm…bad?"

Oliver snorted. "Seriously? Kid, you're doing fine. You're great. You're not bad at all." He struggled for words for a moment. "You're like the kid every parent wants to have. People can't help but like you."

Pit beamed.

"You just need to take a break," Dr. Stoelhart suggested, tearing off a sheet of paper from a notepad and scrawling something on it. "A vacation or something, just to get back into the swing of things. Is there anywhere you want to go?"

"The beach," Pit blurted the first thing to come into his head.

"The…beach," the psychiatrist echoed as he scrawled down the words on the pad and then tore it off to pass to the angel. "There you go—that's your treatment. Two days at the beach."

"Can I take people with me?" Pit asked.

"Sure. You can take whoever you like," Oliver shrugged. "Just have fun, okay?"

"Okay," Pit nodded.

Oliver smiled. "You're a good kid, Pit. Go get some lunch."

Pit smiled, starting to feel more like himself than he had in a long time, already imagining the beach and the ocean. "Okay. I will. Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

**Ollie's my pet character. XD He's actually a CSI guy in my book. **

**Pit's mostly back to normal now, which I believe is the second-to-last loose string to be tied up from The Divide arc, the final string being the whole Ike/Roy/Sheik dilemma. XD I plan to deal with some of that in the next chapter, which was originally planned to be the Beach chapter, but then someone told me that it was "National Awkward Moment Day" so I'm writing a short little drabble/fluff-fest about that instead. It'll be a day or two late, but whatever.**

**So the next two chapters will be; **_**Awkwardness**_** (there will be dancing XD) and **_**The Beach**_**. Fun fun fun! XD**

**Please review!**


	23. Chapter 23: Awkwardness

**WOO! I'm back! There was a bit of update issues, but apparently it's sorted itself out now. YAY! More fluff for you all!**

**189 REVIEWS! SO HAPPY! *throws Hershel into the air* THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! :)**

**Hershel the Plot Bunny- *doesn't look too thrilled about suddenly becoming Hershel the Flying Bunny***

**This section is getting long again…XD**

**Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; updates will be fast, I swear! XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Yes, Oliver is weird. XD I love the Wall of False Drama. It made me laugh. ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; When my class had state-testing, we got our teacher to play an epic game of spoons with us in the breaks. XD So funny. ~ Thanks to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi**_**; Wow, thank you so much for your many reviews! (Who is Blink?) ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; XD Oliver doesn't have a German accent, unfortunately (he's English). My chapters do seem to be getting a bit deeper, which makes me happy. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; Yay! Pit is back to normal! ~ Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; Man, some people really do just deserve it, don't they? XD Yes, the beach chapter is probably going to wind up being 98% about the shirtless boys/bikinied girls. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; Wow, favorite chapter. WOO! ~ Thanks to **_**Raymond Dullstone**_**; You get an imaginary cookie. XD Yeah, they'll probably visit that McDonalds someday. Oliver and Nya will hopefully be playing some more important roles as the story goes on—they'll be back. No worries. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Azura**_**; I had a nice St. Patrick's day, thanks. Luck of the Irish be with ye! XD Scampers has a sister? ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; Yeah, Pit's all better now. :) All is well. ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Yay! You're not dead! I'm not sure how many you missed…But Oliver will be reappearing someday, and these chapters will hopefully be more relevant than the last one. ~ Thanks to **_**Clara the Wolf**_**; XD No, genevieve is not worthy of capitals. 'Nuff said. ~ Thanks to ********_RawkHawk2.0_; No, I'm awful at writing insane people. I've tried and it doesn't work. XD ("red rum!") Thanks. :) ~ Thanks to _angel_; there will be more Pit-fluff coming up. ;) ~ **And **a final thanks (does anyone besides me think this is getting too long?) to _BoshiBasher555_; Whoa, yes. I did completely forget about those guys. ;_; Sorry. They'll definately be hanging around a bit more. XD Thanks!**

**I'm going on record now by saying that the whole Ike and Roy thing is NOT yaoi or gay or whatever (I don't write that stuff). It's just awkward and totally Marth's fault. :) I hope you find it light and amusing, because that's what it's intended to be. No deep meaning or anything; just a funny mental image that I decided to expand upon.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own iTunes, Altea, Gallia (I'm almost positive I spelled that wrong…), Lycia, or anything Fire Emblem/SSBB/Nintendo-y. ;_;**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review. Enjoy my VERY late tribute to National Awkward Moment Day!**

**Chapter 23: Awkwardness**

There are few things more unnerving than an awkward silence. Such a silence was prominent in one of Brawl's many recreation rooms, which at the time only contained four people. All others had cleared out for fear of bodily harm when the temporary calm that had existed as of necessity between Roy and Ike broke.

The four people in the room were Roy and Ike (of course), Sheik (also of course), and Marth, who was plugged into a large MP3 with giant stereo headphones and hadn't even noticed that there was an awkward silence to begin with because he couldn't hear anything around him as he read through _The Art of War_ for the seventh or eighth time.

"So…" Sheik murmured as she finished rewrapping her fingers after a brawl with Meta Knight had ended with one of them becoming undone. "Are you guys just going to sit there or what? My hands can't be that interesting."

"I'm fine," Ike muttered, fighting the urge to shoot Roy a death glare. Roy had never fought the urge in the first place and was burning holes in the side of Ike's head as he forced a smile and said, "I'm fine too."

The silence settled in again, and finally Sheik got up with a sigh to stretch. After a moment, she walked over to the banged-up couch Marth was sprawled across and yanked off his headphones.

Marth squeaked something that sounded sort of like 'gimmie' as he reached up to try and find the headphones while he continued reading his book.

Curiously Sheik held the headphones up to her ear to hear old, Irish/Celtic sounding music playing; a full symphony with heavy percussion accompanying a soprano woman who was hitting incredibly high notes and managing now to sound twangy or screechy.

"What is this?" Sheik asked, trying to ignore the two pairs of eyes that were fixated on the back of her head.

"Altean dance music. Give it back," Marth said dully as he flipped a page.

"You can buy that on iTunes?" Sheik questioned.

"No," Marth said sourly. "I got a guy named Shamus **(AN: I only just realized that Shamus sounds a lot like Samus. Total coincidence ;_;)** who works for the English branch of Nintendo to compose some for me. Give me my headphones back." He made a blind grab and missed by about a foot.

"Teach me," Sheik ordered him.

Marth's blue eyes joined the other two azure pairs staring at her. "What?"

"Teach me how to dance," Sheik repeated, summoning from some internal spring of dignity as she tugged a grey-and-blue striped scarf away from her face. "You remember The Brink? I was hopeless. Two left feet. Zelda can dance to music like this, so I should know how too. Teach me."

"I think you'd like Gallian dances a bit more than Altean," Ike was quick to say. "They're more acrobatic, because they were originally modeled after battle reenactments."

"_I_ think you would like Lycian dances best," Roy blurted. "They're very smooth and deep; I think they'd suit you."

Sheik scrambled to avoid the imminent conflict and eventually said, "Why don't you two try to teach me both? I probably won't be much good at first, but I'll try."

"Then whom will you dance with, my lady?" Marth asked as he stood up, slipping into a court accent and suddenly looking very regal despite his college-kid-style clothing as he offered Sheik his hand.

Ike and Roy instantly shot to their feet as well, Roy stripping off his sweatshirt to reveal a white T-shirt with the words 'I'm with stupid' written across accompanied with an arrow, which was conveniently pointed in Ike's direction. Ike scowled and rolled up the sleeves of his over-long navy shirt as he and Roy simultaneously also offered Sheik their hands.

Sheik bit her lip, her red eyes skipping over the three Fire Emblem men, suddenly wishing that she hadn't brought up the subject of dancing at all. But now the die had been cast, and the best way to avoid a conflict was to…

"Marth asked first, so I think I owe him the dance today," she said carefully, not taking Marth's offered hand but letting hers stay at her sides.

Marth made a sound that resembled a smothered snort and looked relieved, and it took Sheik a minute to realize that he wasn't laughing at her—he was laughing at Roy and Ike, who were now regarding one another with horrified expressions.

"What?" Sheik asked, unaware of the damage she had just caused.

"All Fire Emblem dances are partner dances," Marth explained, his voice one of someone who was just barely choking back laughter. "Impossible to do on your own."

"_Oh_," Sheik whispered, but Marth had already taken her hand with surprising gentleness and stepped a half step closer to her, putting them in the traditional partners' stance. His cobalt eyes regarded her calmly, as if he was guarding his expressions so as not to make sure to send the wrong message; a kindness on his part. Sheik thought absently that, although Ike was extremely tall, Marth wasn't all that short either. He was easily four or five inches taller than her. And as for Roy…

"Come on guys," Marth teased, his expressionless face twisting into a sardonic smile as he looked over at the other two adolescents. "I don't know Gallian or Lycian dances. Show us how it's done."

Ike looked at a loss for words, his face ashen as he tried not to look at Roy, whose face was steadily getting redder and redder.

"I'm not the girl!" he spat.

"Of course you are," Ike said, regaining a tiny scrap of dignity as he offered his hand in Roy's direction. "You're shorter."

"I'm won't be the girl!" Roy cried.

Ike raised his eyebrow. "Are you saying you don't want to teach Sheik how to dance? Because I could probably manage on my own, if you don't want…"

Roy, with a look of barely disguised disgust, forced a grim smile and stepped closer to Ike, showing just how short he really was when his head barely came up to Ike's shoulder.

"_Shut up,_" he hissed at Marth, who was almost falling over from the effort of not bursting into maniacal laughter.

"Okay," Ike said, taking Roy's hand as someone would pick up a huge, hairy, poisonous spider. "Well…Are we doing Gallian or Lycian first?"

"Do Gallian," Marth suggested. "I doubt that Roy knows the girl's part of Lycian dances."

"I DO TOO!" Roy bellowed. "I'm not an idiot!"

"Fine, then show us," Ike challenged.

"I won't tea—!" Roy started, but then scowled and looked over at Sheik, his face as red as her eyes. "Fine. Just follow me, Sheik, okay?"

Marth and Ike shot one another a secret look behind Roy's back, for both of them realized the change that had come over Roy in that instant; he had been about to yell, but then he had swallowed the notion as well as a large amount of his pride and was now talking to Sheik in a slightly hushed tone, explaining the dance steps to her very thoroughly, taking the time to elaborate on anything she didn't understand. It was like he had completely changed for her.

Even Ike, who still felt conflicted about the red-headed youth awkwardly holding his hand, had to respect him a little for that.

"So do you think you have it?" Roy asked gently after he finished. Sheik nodded hesitantly, and then started to try mimicking some of Roy's movements.

"Wait!" Roy said, twisting his hand out of Ike's to take Sheik's hand in his own. Ike and Marth both fully expected him to try and steal the dance for himself, but he instead took her hand and placed it on Marth's shoulder, then grabbed Marth's hand to rest lightly on her waist before stepping back to survey the two of them. "That's how you're supposed to stand," he explained, looking slightly proud of himself as he ran both hands through his spiky hair. "I forgot about that. Try it now."

Marth shot him a pleased smile, wondering absently when Roy had grown up.

After a few moments, it became obvious that Sheik knew the dance better than Marth, who had almost no idea what he was doing but still managing to stumble after Sheik with a fair amount of grace.

"No," Ike surprised everyone by saying after Marth nearly lost his balance and fell over. He walked over to Sheik and Marth and separated them. "Marth, you can't be clinging to your dance partner, it's not proper. You're supposed to lead."

"I know," Marth said irritably. "I can't help it I don't know the dance. I only know Altean."

"Well she's never going to learn the dance if she can't dance with someone who actually has an inkling of what they're doing," Ike pointed out, then turned to Roy. "Show her."

There was suddenly another long, awkward silence as Roy gaped at Ike, unable to believe what he had just heard, and Marth glared at Ike, sending him furious 'are-you-out-of-your-mind?' looks over his shoulder.

Roy stepped forward slowly and sketched a light bow in Sheik's direction, finally showing some of his proper upbringing. "May I?"

Sheik shrugged, also sending Ike 'are-you-out-of-your-mind?' looks as she took Roy's hand.

Ike walked over to the couch and fell onto it, and Marth moved his book so he could sit down next to him.

"What are you thinking?" the Altean hissed the moment he felt that Roy couldn't hear him. "I thought you were all for keeping Sheik on your side! What's with letting him have the dance?"

"He knows it," Ike said simply. "And I don't. How can I expect to teach her something I don't know either? Besides, it's not really about the dance. Roy knows that. It's about who Sheik picks. So far she doesn't seem like she wants to pick, so I'm going to let her have as much of both of us as she wants, until she's ready to decide. And who knows?" He smiled resignedly at Sheik, who was spinning expertly around Roy now, looking almost as fluid as he did. "Maybe she won't pick either of us. I'll give it my best shot, but I owe it to him to let him give it his best shot too. I think he realizes that now."

Marth nodded absently as he picked at a seam in his tattered sweatshirt sleeve. "…I think that's a good way of looking at it," he said slowly. "It's wise."

Ike grinned. "I have my moments."

"Don't we all?" Marth asked quietly, looking at his old friend as Roy and Sheik finished the dance and stepped away from each other to bow. Both of them were smiling.

"Good job!" Roy praised, slightly out of breath. "That was amazing! I can't believe you picked it up that quickly! I tried to teach Marth some of the dances when he came to Lycia over Christmas a few years ago and he took _forev_…." Roy paused, and very slowly turned on his heel to look at the Altean, who quickly assumed an innocent expression.

"That's right…" Roy said thoughtfully. "I taught you Lycian dances a long time ago, didn't I? You said that you didn't know Lycian, but I know you do…."

Marth shrugged. "I guess I forgot."

"Marth doesn't forget," Ike said slowly, turning so that he could look into Marth's eyes, which were screaming lies even though his face said that he spoke truth. "You did that on purpose."

Prince Marth sighed heavily through his nose, and then grinned disarmingly.

"I do everything on purpose," he said, then vaulted over the back of the couch and dashed down the hallway.

"_MAAARTH!_" Roy hollered, immediately giving chase but lost ground fast due to the fact that Marth had a headstart and was currently the fastest runner in the whole stadium. By the time he skidded around a corner, Marth was already halfway down the next hallway, laughing hysterically as Roy ran after him.

Ike smiled serenely as he stood up from the couch and offered his hand to Sheik. "Do you want to learn the Gallian dance now?" he asked.

Sheik's face, flushed from the dance with Roy, seemed to light up a little. "I'd like that," she said quietly.

There was a third awkward pause where Ike debated whether he dared to put his hand on her waist, but Sheik grabbed his hand and made the decision for him with a giggle.

He started to laugh, which only made Sheik's laughter louder. Her hands reached up to his shoulders, and they stood like that for a long time, feeling as though they were laughing together in a small, safe corner of the world.

**So there's your daily dose of Ike/Sheik fluff. Roy may or may not be making a slight comeback in the next chapter…we'll see. Anyway, the moral of the story is that you shouldn't give up the girl to chase down Marth. Silly Roy. *shakes head* But he's gotten a bit more mature as of late…we'll see if that continues….**

**And they're off to the beach! There will be Speedos! (but on whom? XD)**

**I sincerely apologize for the long delay. :\ Lots of things happened recently. **

**Please review!**


	24. Chapter 24: The Beach

_**200 REVIEWS! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**_** You're all awesome incarnate! WOO! I love my life!**

**Thank you and apologies to **_**AquosBrawlerStar**_**; I think you reviewed two chapters ago and I forgot to mention you. I'm so sorry. ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; XD I have no idea. ~ Thanks to **_**Mariko Midori;**_** I did? HAH! ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondTHEspriter**_**; XD Roy will never truly be mature. Unfortunately, no one was recording. Hershel liked the carrots, BTW. ~ Thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; It's not Snake…And yes, I'm Sheik/Ike all the way. ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; XD Marth is manipulative, isn't he? And Ike's….Ike. XD "go in, kill them before they kill us." LOL ~ Thanks to **_**Jaxin**_**; Um, yes, Diagon is alive. Thanks for reviewing! ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; XD Roy's all yours, I just have dibs on Marth. ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Yeah, Roy's got options, doesn't he? ~ Thanks to **_**Azura**_**; No, I don't think you should stop. History is much more interesting if you think George Washington rode a dragon. XD Kirby is mentioned in this chap, but I don't think I used alliteration…Next time! Thanks! ~ And a final thanks to **_**angel**_**, who I believe is the lucky 200****th**** reviewer; Thanks for reviewing! Hershel thanks you too!**

**Disclaimer: The lovely men in swimsuits do not belong to me. Neither to the girls, but I don't want them as badly. ;_;**

**Yes, this chapter turned out to be at least 50% about the swimsuits. XD and I was totally going to do the speedo thing, but I chickened out at the last second. You'll see what I mean. ;_; I'm sorry. **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 24: The Beach**

"Last one into the water is a stabbed warthog!" Link roared, leaping from the van the minute Ike skidded it to a stop. **(AN: Why did he say 'stabbed warthog' you ask? Because my sister told me to. XD)**

"No fair!" Quincy shouted, kicking open the trunk rather than waiting for Marth, Roy, and Samus to get out of the middle seat.

Pit shot out of the sunroof of the second car, his wings flashing white in the bright sun as he easily passed Link and cannonballed into the water with a loud whoop. Link tore off his shirt and kicked off his shoes about ten feet from the water's edge and splashed in as well, already in his swimming trunks.

"And Link's in the water already…" Marth sighed, squinting into the sun as he reached into the trunk for a large boombox.

"Who bet on three seconds?" Ike asked, unhappily reaching into a pocket of his jeans for five dollars.

Samus smiled and held out her hand, having just won about twenty dollars from the 'how-long-will-Link-be-able-to-stay-out-of-the-water' pool.

Marth absently handed Samus his money as he fiddled with the dials on the boombox before finally picking up on a decent radio station. "Are we going to get the tent set up or what?" he asked, kicking off his shoes to put them back inside the car.

As per the request of a certain Oliver Stoelhart, the majority of the Brawlers had taken a minor excursion to an empty Pacific Ocean beach. The only people who didn't come were the baddies like Deedee and Ganondorf. Snake had also declined, explaining that he didn't like to be in wide open spaces like beaches on sunny days.

Nya, who had recently gotten her driver's license, had volunteered to drive the larger fifteen-seat van, which was packed tighter than a clown car with everyone except for the teenagers. As soon as one of the doors opened, there seemed to be a mini-explosion of bodies as the Earthbound kids, Sonic, Kirby, Falcon, Peach, all of the Mario-related persons, Lucario, Pikachu, and many others spilled out onto the fine sand.

While the young Brawl staffer ran out to join Quincy, Link, and Pit in the water, her dark hair flying out behind her, the Fire Emblem men plus Samus and Sheik started to work at setting up a flimsy beach tent that had been found at a garage sale for two dollars while Zelda stood and watched. It was mildewy and covered in a strange design, but they figured it would work for anyone wanting to change in and out of swimsuits and encourage people not to hog the tent itself.

About fifteen minutes later, Roy was lying flat on his back in the sand, cussing violently and nursing his eye, which had been accidentally poked with one of the tent poles as everyone else finally finished erecting the canvas structure.

Marth and Ike ducked inside the tent and came out a few minutes later in swimming trunks; Marth's grey with a red racing stripe along the side and Ike's plain black, jeans and T-shirts slung over their shoulders. Samus whistled quietly to Sheik and Zelda, who both nodded approval.

Roy sat up slowly as the girls went into the tent to change, finally taking his hand away from his face to reveal a red mark just below the eye itself and little else. Marth offered a hand to stand, which he took gratefully. Once on his feet, he shrugged off his T-shirt and threw it in the direction of the van, tightening his belt around his waist so that his ratty jeans wouldn't slide down when they got wet.

Roy was stuck wearing his pants in place of a swimsuit after Marth had discovered that the only swimsuit Roy owned was a Speedo that was at least two sizes two small. There had been many 'pinched' jokes in the past few days, much to Roy's embarrassment.

There was a small titter of laughter from inside the tent, and then Sheik stumbled out, obviously shoved from behind.

Roy lurched to his feet, kicking up a small cloud of sand. Ike absently leaned on Roy's head in an older-brother sort of way, a sly grin on his face as his eyes skipped in Sheik's direction.

Sheik's face burned a bright red and she tugged up the neckline of her extremely modest swimsuit. The only thing that really was exposed was her shoulders, but she still looked extremely uncomfortable. Zelda and Samus pulled off the swimsuit thing much more gracefully; Zelda's one piece was sporting a much lower neck a neon striped pattern that reminded Marth of the socks she had worn a long time ago when they all went to The Brink. Compared to her counterpart, Sheik would have looked a bit bland (her swimsuit was black and her hair was its washed-out blonde color) were it not for the bright shade of red in her face.

Ike threw a subtle elbow Marth's way obviously intended to be the guy version of Samus' approving whistle earlier, and the Altean flushed and made a point not to look at Samus too long.

Samus was wearing—as expected—a bikini. The top was a halter and came down about halfway down her chest, sort of like a sports bra. The bottoms were waterproof short-shorts; not unlike what she wore as pajamas. Both pieces were splattered with so many colors that it looked as if the swimsuit had been dragged through a paintball fight.

"AGH!" came Link's anguished cry from the water, and he sprinted up the beach to the tent, fine sand forming a layer over his wet legs as it sprayed up around him. He skidded to a stop next to Marth and grabbed the Altean's arm so that he wouldn't fall over. "How can you guys just stand here? _C'mon!_ You can admire swimsuits just as easily in the ocean!" His hand leapt from Marth's arm to Zelda's, gently yanking her forward in the sand. She giggled and ran with him, leading the sudden sprint towards the ocean as everyone else suddenly remembered Link's 'stabbed warthog' comment.

Marth and Samus, the two fastest, passed Link and Zelda and charged into the water first. Marth nearly ran over Jigglypuff and lost his balance in the process of not stepping in on the singing pokemon. In his stumble, he staggered against Samus, accidentally bringing both of them tumbling down into the water.

"Slick!" Link crowed as Marth and Samus leapt away from each other, creating a mini tsunami that caught poor Lucas right in the face.

Marth managed to take the incident in stride, offering a dripping hand down to Samus, who took it with a small smile.

Sheik, towing the slower Ike with Roy zipping along ahead, ran in last. Roy promptly lost his balance as well and fell to his knees, but popped back up again grinning; his red hair stained to a darker tone and slicked down into his eyes. His jeans slipped disturbingly low on his hips as they got wet (which probably accounted for his fall), but then the belt caught and the brawlers were thankfully saved from any indecent exposure.

Peach bounced up in a heart-patterned bikini that almost put Samus's suit to shame and suggested that everyone pass around the sunscreen she had brought along.

"Nah," Roy said, passing the tube to Marth. "I'm still kind of tan. I'll be fine."

Marth sighed heavily, finally noticing how pasty he looked next to the slightly-bronzed Roy and squeezed out a little puddle of sunscreen into his palm before tossing the tube to Ike, who—judging by his slightly startled expression—had just noticed the same thing.

"Hey, can you do my back?" Zelda asked Link, lifting her hair over her neck so Link could slather anything that wasn't covered with a strap. Link, like Roy, had refused the sunscreen, arguing that Hyrulian farm boys didn't really burn.

Samus took advantage of Marth being distracted (he was still looking enviously at Roy's tan) to splash him full in the face. Marth, to his credit, recovered fairly quickly and—after a brief coughing fit—leapt after Samus for revenge.

"Is this stuff waterproof?" Ike asked Peach, raking his damp hair out of his eyes.

"It _should_ be…" Peach said, but she sounded a bit doubtful. Ike winced, then sighed and decided to just roll with it.

Several meters away, Pit, Quincy, and Nya had gathered a large group of brawlers to play water football brawl-style (which basically meant that there were no rules other than 'get-the-ball-to-the-goal'). After finally catching up to Samus and dunking her, Marth called over to Link and Co. that they join in as well.

In the end (after several arguments mostly between the Fire Emblem men that involved lots of splashing and swearing), the teams ended up being Captain Falcon, Falco, the ice climbers, Link, Marth, Ness, Peach, Pit, Samus, Wario, Luigi, Zelda, and Wolf vs. Diddy Kong, Fox, Ike, Kirby, Lucario, Lucas, Mario, Captain Olimar, Quincy and Pikachu, Roy, Sheik, Sonic, and Nya. Jigglypuff opted to sit out and play referee.

"Really," Marth commented to Link as he waded through the waist high water. "It's a miracle we all fit into two cars."

"Did you see the other car?" Link retorted. "The only person who had her own seat was Quincy's staffer buddy."

Marth couldn't help smirking as he shot Nya a glance. She was wearing a one piece swimsuit, but was wearing a large T-shirt and shorts over it to protect from sunburn. "She's pretty cool, actually."

"You talked to her?"

Marth shrugged nonchalantly. "I may have. What of it?"

Link rolled his eyes as the game began and Marth immediately surged after the ball, wondering how such a manipulator had ever been allowed to become king of a whole country. Where was the world headed? Now _Zelda_, he thought as Zelda made a grab for the ball Fox had just grabbed, _there _was a good queen. She knew what she was doing. Marth was great at playing war and all that, but Zelda was better at keeping the peace. Link had occasionally wondered if the only reason Marth joined Brawl and Melee was because he was bored of the whole peace thing and wanted to slash something.

Marth popped out of the water in-between Zelda and Fox, plucking the ball out of both of their hands with a grin.

"GO LONG!" he roared at Pit, who immediately launched out of the water like a reverse cannonball as Marth chucked the football.

Pit caught the ball about seven feet above the water and then plummeted back into it (as per the revised rules to include people who could fly; they could catch balls above water, but they weren't allowed to fly as part of their movement) to make a run for the end zone. Quincy and Nya were playing safety, and they both jumped on him at the same time. Somewhere in the skirmish the football slipped from Pit's arms and went sailing into the air again.

"Kirby!" Ike bellowed, wondering absently as he did so if he had ever actually called out to Kirby like that before. "Fetch!"

Kirby, like Pit, launched out of the water and suctioned the ball close enough to where it could be grabbed. It sank back down, and Ike took the ball to make a run for it.

"Aw dang…" Marth complained when he saw that Ike had the football. "We're never going to get him down."

"C'mon!" Link said. "Where's your fighting spirit? We totally got this!"

Marth splashed Link, and then resignedly started a charge towards Ike. He got there first, being the fastest and closest, and made a darting grab for the ball, which was nestled in the crook of Ike's arm. Ike simply dropped his shoulder and body slammed the Altean backwards, knocking him about three feet back in the water and directly into Link, knocking both of them over. Just as Samus, Captain Falcon and Falco were about to reach him, Ike grinned and flipped the ball over his head.

Roy, of all people, leapt up to take the pass. He snatched the ball out of the air and immediately threw it to Lucario, who threw it to Fox, who then somehow managed to make a miracle pass to Quincy, who had hunkered down by the touchdown zone.

Even as Link's hand came down on Quincy's shoulder to yank him backwards, Quincy passed the ball to Pikachu, who had been hanging out on Quincy's shoulder. The Pokemon took the football in its mouth and leapt from Quincy's shoulder into the water.

Link abandoned dunking Quincy and made a grab for the pokemon. His hand grazed its lightning-bolt shaped tail, but Pikachu continued to paddle across the touchdown line, football clasped in-between sharp little teeth. If you knew the pokemon well, it would have been impossible to miss the smug look in its eyes.

Ike's team cheered and razzed Marth's team, who mostly responded with splashing and eventually tackling, and after a few moments the whole water was churning from a massive Battle-Royal-style brawl; full of laughter and sun and sparkling water.

Pit dodged a sweeping attack from Wolf but was grabbed from the back by Ike, who chucked him bodily into the water. After skipping across the surface at least twice, Pit plunged into the deeper water and resurfaced with a grin, spitting out the salt as he wiped his hair from his face and surveyed the melee.

_This is how we're supposed to do it,_ he thought fondly as he struck out towards the fight again. _This is how it's supposed to be; when we're all friends. When it's all just for fun. _

And then…_I want things to stay like this for as long as possible_.

**xXx**

About twenty minutes later, they all agreed to take a lunch break. The boys managed to collect a large pile of driftwood to make a fire, and Nya produced a bulk amount of hot dogs and other miscellaneous snacky things. For several minutes there was little sound at all other than the crackle of the fire and the sounds of people stuffing their faces with hot dogs and other artery/windpipe clogging materials. Thankfully, there were no casualties, although Link came fairly close when he inhaled part of a chip in surprise when Pit singed his hand on his roasting stick and said a word that nobody ever expected to hear from an angel.

After Marth's third hot dog, he dusted off his roasting stick and pointed it in Ike's direction, saying "engarde" quietly as he did so.

Ike stood up, swinging the long stick he had found around, testing the weight. "It's too light," he complained after a minute. "It won't hold."

"Chicken," Marth said, then lunged.

Roy and Link finished the last of their food and joined in on the fight belatedly, swinging clumsily with their sticks because they were used to heavier weapons. Marth, having been trained in using a foil, was the only one with any real idea what he was doing.

Quincy and Nya, who were sharing a bag of chips, laughed as they watched Marth kick butt. Nya's hands were constantly combing through her dark hair, which had become tangled in all of the excitement and kept flying over her face in the breeze.

Quincy had Pikachu on his lap and kept feeding it bits of a hot-dog-bun, which it obviously appreciated. At Quincy's suggestion, it rolled over to expose its stomach for petting, and Nya absently reached over to scratch behind the furry ears, earning an euphoric squeal from the pokemon.

Nya giggled, her hair brushing Quincy's bare shoulder as she reached in to tickle Pikachu's stomach. Quincy grinned, sneaking looks at Nya every few seconds when he thought she wasn't paying attention.

Marth, bored of fighting with such amateurs, dropped back onto the sand next to Samus, who flushed a little and absently tucked her hair behind her ear. Marth used his hot-dog-stick-turned-foil-turned-fire-tong to nudge a log closer to the flames, and then started to brush some of the congealed sand off of his legs.

On an impulse, Samus reached up to ruffle his blue hair, smirking when her hand stirred up a small cloud of sand that sparkled for a moment before blowing away. Marth smiled at her, and then looked up at the bright, clear sky with a faraway expression on his face that suggested that he was contemplating the meaning of life.

Samus watched him for a moment, marveling at the way his eyes reflected the fluffy clouds that were starting to creep across the sky.

Marth blinked and turned to look at Samus, and suddenly it wasn't the sky reflected in his eyes; it was her own face.

She grinned, and leaned gently against his shoulder. As a beaming Pit launched up into the air to practice some air maneuvering and Link, Ike, and Roy continued their sword fight, she finally felt like things were getting back to normal.

**xXx**

Oliver Stoelhart was steadily working through a pile of paperwork and had taken a small break to rest his fingers when a familiar sun-burnt face came through the door.

"Hey kid," Oliver chuckled, absently picking up a pen from his desk to spin in his hand. "How was the beach? I heard you guys went yesterday."

Pit beamed, and Oliver's smile stretched a little across his own face when he noticed that Pit seemed much looser than the last time they met.

"It was great," Pit enthused. "But it started raining towards the end, so that was bad, and almost everyone got sunburned. Still, I think we all had fun."

"So_ you_ had fun?" Oliver couldn't help questioning, although he felt the answer was obvious.

Pit looked at the young psychiatrist, his piercing blue eyes fearlessly meeting Oliver's strange gold-flecked irises. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun. I feel much better, so I guess I should say thank you."

"Nah." Oliver waved the idea away. "I'm just doing my job. I'm glad I could help."

Pit shrugged. "Either way, it was a good idea. It fixed a bunch of things, I think…"

"How so?" Oliver asked. As part of his job, he was always hungry for information.

"Well, Ike and Roy are actually getting along," Pit said. "I don't know how that happened, but they're friends now. Roy's actually really nice; I never met him so…" He smiled and continued. "Marth and Samus totally have the hots for each other; they really need to just get together. Quincy's really got a thing for this girl named Nya…and I stopped having nightmares.

Oliver couldn't help grinning. "Not bad for a day's work, right?"

"No, not bad." Pit nodded. "You need a raise."

Mr. Stoelhart rolled his eyes and waved his pen in Pit's direction. "You, my friend, are much too cunning to really be an angel."

"Thanks," Pit said brightly. "I try."

"You need to spend less time with Marth," Oliver grumbled. "The guy's rubbing off on you."

"Marth's cool," Pit said neutrally. "Roy's more fun though."

There was a rap on the office door, and Quincy stuck his baseball-capped head through.

"Hi Mr. Stoelhart," he said sweetly. "Pit, Meta-knight said something about a rematch; are you up for it?"

"Heck yes!" Pit cheered, leaping over the couch and dashing for the door. "Bye!" he called back at the psychiatrist as he ran out of the room.

Oliver Stoelhart leaned back in his chair as the latch clicked shut.

"Am I good or what?" he asked himself as he scrawled 'resolved' across Pit's file and slid it into a folder in his desk. "Maybe I do need a raise…"

**Jeez, there was about an arc worth of stuff crammed into that one chapter. Oi vey...Hopefully that's a good thing (?).**

**I think the next chapter is going to be the long awaited "Babysitting" chapter, and after that I'm not sure…We'll see.**

**Please review! ;)**


	25. Chapter 25: A Slight Intermission

**Thanks to my wonderful reviewers, of which there are many! (but this chapter has basically no point whatsoever that doesn't matter!)**

**Thanks to **_**AquosBrawlerStar;**_** Woot! Thank you! ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA;**_** Yes, yes they are. XD Even better when they aren't wearing shirts, right? ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four;**_** I have no idea what Pit said. XD Sorry about your tea. ~ Thanks to **_**Clara the Wolf;**_** Yep, all loose ends are tied up! ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; You are very welcome. *bows* I hope I can keep it up. I'm sure your cats care, and I don't know why there weren't narwhals…there should have been. :( ~ Thanks to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi;**_** Actually, there was a change in plans…(read below). Thanks though! ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot;**_** It's on the west coast somewhere, possibly in Canada (does it ever get warm enough to swim there?). Aw, you don't like Ollie? ~ Thanks to **_**-Keyblade-Bearer;**_** Yay! New reviewer! Thanks for reviewing! (Yes, poor Marth XD) ~ Thanks **_**to RawkHawk2.0;**_** Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. You're going to hate me, and I'm **_**so sorry.**_** I swear your chapter will be the first when I come back! (read below) ~ Thanks to **_**Sir Starlll;**_** Yeah, it turned out to be less about the swimsuits than I thought. XD I could really use some sugge—HOLY COW YES! *Steals your closet idea* ~ Thanks to **_**Azura;**_** yes they did. XD Plot bunny = random idea that pops into your head randomly. I only learned that a few months ago. XD (Wave, Hershel! **Hershel:** . . .) ~ Thanks to **_**BoshiBasher555;**_** Yep, Wolf's around. :) ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; asdfk;l…people are going to hate me ;_;…Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like Pit ~ Thanks to **_**MEAM-neko n.n;**_** Yeah, it'd sort of be a problem if I died… Thanks! ~ And a final thanks to **_**angel;**_** Thank you so much! That's awesome!**

**Agh…..I have such awesome reviewers and with this chapter you're all going to hate me…..;_; I sincerely apologize in advance.**

**Disclaimer: SSBB does not belong to me, and neither does Fang from Maximum Ride (he belongs to James Patterson). However, Mouse/GeLee IS me, so I dearly hope I belong to myself.**

**I swore when I started writing this that I'd never put myself into this story, but…..Yeah. And Fang's always hanging around (he's my unofficial muse because my official muse is a jerk. (Yes, my muse is an imaginary person. I know it's weird but it (usually) works. XD)) **

**Once again, I'm so sorry! Please read the whole thing.**

**Chapter 25: Intermission**

"_I can't believe you! You're QUITTING?_" Marth roared, slamming open the door to her room. He had run straight up from the stadium upon hearing the news, and hadn't bothered to change out of his costume. Even now, he cut a dark and dangerous figure in his regal blue fabrics and his circlet flaring in the light cast from the window.

A teenage girl shoved off from a computer desk and swiveled her chair around to face the prince, her green eyes shielded from the world by thin-lensed glasses and a vivid imagination. Her face was flushed, but those who knew her would know that it was a flush that never seemed to leave her face—a curse of her British heritage.

"I'm sorry," she said in a voice that was simultaneously hesitant and sharp. "But I feel like I have to do this."

"You're pulling the plug!" Marth raged, just stopping himself from sweeping a gloved arm across her desk, which was (as usual) cluttered with items ranging from a half-filled sketchbook to a tube of Pringles to the imaginary cage of a brown lionhead rabbit that was nibbling on a carrot.

"I'm not!" she cried, shaking her head and sending her brown hair tumbling over her eyes. She unconsciously brushed the hair away as she looked at the ground and repeated softly, "I'm _not _pulling the plug."

"Well, it sure sounds like that to us!" he shouted.

"And I'm_ so_ sorry!" she yelled back, then sank further into her chair and drew a black shawl closer around her shoulders. "Look, it's not because I don't want to write or anything, okay?"

Marth scowled. "Then what is it? Why are you quitting? Dang it, you're throwing in the towel before this story's even really started!"

Her eyes flared. "I'm_ not_ quitting," she snapped. "This is seriously just an intermission. Please believe me!"

The Altean cursed and sank into the spare chair. "But _why,_ Mouse? You have reviewers. You have people who love this story—who _wait_ for it! This is your most successful story on this site for crying out loud!" His voice steadily grew louder as he continued speaking. "Girl, you have over 200 reviews! Do you know how many people are waiting on this story?"

"I know," she sighed. "But I don't feel like I can write this story until I finish editing my novel."

"What novel?"

Mouse seemed to perk up a little and opened a large file on her computer. To the Altean's surprise, the whole thing was just text—over 300 pages worth. The first page was simply titled 'The Revolution.'

"This is my novel," she said quietly. "I've been working on this for over two years, and I finished the first official draft last summer. But since then, I've thought of a bunch of things that I need to change, and at first I thought I'd fix them later, but it's gotten to the point where I can't concentrate on fanfiction while I'm still thinking about everything."

"But why can't you keep going with both?" Marth whispered. "Nobody wants you to stop."

Mouse smiled sadly. "I_ love_ fanfiction," she said. "I love this story. I really love reading all the reviews and everything. I honestly do." She turned to the screen, where a half-written chapter still was sitting on the desktop next to the other files that she currently had open. "But I cannot concentrate on this until I finish the novel project, okay? I have selective writer's block or something—I can only work on one project at a time." Her smile grew larger and happier as she promised, "This story isn't over, okay? I'll be back before you know I'm gone."

Marth raised an eyebrow. "Swear it."

She pushed her glasses up a little on her nose and leaned forward, a small amulet catching the light streaming from the window and flashing. "I swear I will come back to this story the_ moment_ I am done with The Revolution, okay?"

Marth appeared to be satisfied as he took off his circlet and started twirling it around his finger.

Mouse absently started fiddling with the amulet. "And I'm truly sorry to all of the readers and reviewers and favers for the inconvenience," she said smoothly, slipping into a light accent without even realizing it. "I hope that this will not take long—I usually edit things pretty fast. If you like, you can just think of this chapter as me informing you of a longer delay than usual."

Marth chuckled as he leaned up against the doorframe. "Are you talking to the computer screen again?"

She smirked. "So what if I am?"

A boy with shaggy dark hair walked down the hallway and shot Marth a quizzical look before looking at Mouse.

"What's he doing here, GeLee?" the boy asked, calling Mouse by the name that her Chinese teacher had given her that she had become strangely attached to simply for the fact that it translated to 'beautiful song.'

Mouse stood up silently from the chair to stretch. "We just needed to straighten some things out. It's all good."

The boy shrugged his shoulders under a baggy T-shirt that had huge slits cut in the back to let out a pair of black wings, although the wings were currently folded up against his spine. "Cool."

Mouse grinned as Marth left, calling, "Don't worry! I'll be back!" after him in an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent.

Marth turned to offer a last smile as he pulled the door leading to the Brawl stadium closed, but he made sure that it didn't latch. "You'd better be," he said. And then he left, but Mouse knew he'd be back. If she called, she knew he would come, and he would bring everyone else back with him.

The door was still open, and this relieved her. She hadn't said 'goodbye,' just 'see you later.'

Fang slumped into the spare chair, startling Mouse enough to wrench her gaze away from the semi-open door to look at him. Her first thought was that he looked rather tattered and worn when compared to the man who had been sitting in it a moment ago. Her second thought was that he was asking her a question. He had raised an eyebrow—his way of demanding an answer to a question he felt he didn't need to ask.

Mouse turned away to face the computer monitor, typing out the words as she answered his question. "Yeah, of course I meant it. I'm not going to abandon this thing—it's way too much fun."

She turned around to face him, a slightly crooked smile on her face that made him smirk in anticipation.

"Besides," she said as she slipped Hershel the plot bunny a Pringle chip. "It's just like Marth said; this story hasn't even really started yet."

** Soo…yeah. I have severe selective writer's block (or something…), but** _**I'll be back soon!**_** And I swear on pain of death that the next chapter will be **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**'s long delayed Babysitting chapter (I'm **_**so**_** sorry—I owe you an epic chapter of your choice plus the babysitting one ;_;).**

** Please wait for me. (and please don't hate me either. That'd be great.) :(**


	26. Chapter 26: BabySitting

**I'M BAAACK~~~!**

**See, that wasn't so bad, right? (LONG story short: I got done what I wanted to get done but I'm holding off on the major editing until summer. It's all good. Now I'm working on another project with a friend, and this new project leaves lots of spare time for fanfiction, so it all worked out. All is well again!)**

**Special thanks to everyone who's stuck through: ESPECIALLY to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; here it is (finally). I owe you one. Hope you enjoy. :) ~ Thanks to **_**Sir Starlll**_**; I'm back! The book's not done yet though…XD ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Yeah, video games are a major distraction, aren't they? So's anime. XD ~ Thanks to **_**AquosBrawlerStar**_**; *passes tissues* It's okay, I'm back. XD ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; is it just me, or did you review something else of mine? I'd love for you to read my book! ~ Thanks to **_**MEAM-neko n.n**_**; It wasn't that long. XD I hope you like Roy even though he's a bit different. ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; yes, any new ideas would be appreciated. ~ Thanks to **_**Azura**_**; That's actually a great idea (I should've done that). LOL "antlers?" That's an epic plot bunny. Optimistic=thinking of the best. ~ Thanks to **_**Clara the Wolf**_**; I'm back! ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Yeah, Fang's been hanging around since about 6****th**** grade. XD Have you read Angel yet? And I enjoy writing Marth more than Quincy, so that's why I used him. I have no comment on the explosive thing other than a cautious "Thanks…?" ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; It's back up, and I wish your sister luck! ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; XD I actually have about 8 chapters plus 2 arcs lined up. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; aw…hope that gets fixed. ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Woo! New reviewer! Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to **_**RamondTHEspriter**_** AKA Raymond (holy cow, you signed!); O.o Torch? Seriously, that's the second threat I've gotten. Is it bad that I'm kind of flattered? Thank you so much! ~ And a final thanks to **_**angel**_**; I'm glad you're still with us. :) **

**Seriously, thank you all for all the encouragement and for sticking with me. :) I feel so loved!**

**Disclaimer: SSBB is not mine. ;_; Inception also is not mine; it belongs to…um…*googles* Inception belongs to Warner Bros. (XD I fail)**

**With that, please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 26: Babysitting**

Quincy plopped down at a lunch table next to Pit, who was trying to educate Roy in some of the more epic movies that had come out recently.

"So_ then_, it turns out that they were really in a dream this whole time and…" Pit was saying energetically. Somewhere in the middle of a sentence he managed to squeeze in a "hi Quince," before continuing with his monologue. A few more phrases in, Roy looked completely lost.

"What're you talking about?" Quincy asked around a mouthful of sub sandwich.

"Inception," Pit answered chirpily, then reached down and tore off half of Quincy's breadsick.

"Hey!" the pokemon trainer complained as Roy beat a hasty retreat over to a table where Marth and Link were fencing with their straws.

"You're not going to eat all that anyway," Pit said lazily, sucking a bit of tomato sauce off of his finger. "You've got four slices of pizza on your plate."

"I'm a growing boy," Quincy protested smarmily, twisting his baseball cap around backwards so it wouldn't impede his eating. He shot Pit a quick smile to make sure the angel realized he was joking. After the whole Genevieve fiasco, Quincy was trying to be extra nice to Pit, but that didn't quite reach far enough to letting Pit take his food without at least pretending to be annoyed.

Halfway through his third slice, Nya walked into the cafeteria, Pikachu bobbing along behind her. Ever since the beach about five days ago, the little pokemon had taken to following her around the Brawl complex whenever Quincy was doing something else, like eating.

"Heads up," Pit warned. Quincy whirled just as Nya sat down across the table from him, flashing a quick smile that made his face turn bright red.

"I need a favor," she blurted awkwardly. Her hand skittered across the table for Quincy's last breadstick, and the pokemon trainer shoved the grease-stained paper plate in her direction with a small sigh. She shot him another award winning smile as she nibbled on the end of the bread.

"What's the favor?" Quincy asked tolerantly.

"Well, I was supposed to be on babysitting duty—y'know, for Lucas and Ness—with Yukiko, you know her, right?"

Quincy and Pit both shook their heads.

Nya didn't seem bothered. "Well, either way, Yukiko got sick yesterday, so she can't do it. And everyone else is seriously busy; we got way behind on spring cleaning and…"

"It's summer," Pit felt the need to point out.

Nya's grin stretched a little. "Exactly," she said grimly. "But the point is, we don't have an extra guy to help out." She looked at Quincy pleadingly. "And I noticed that you don't have any brawls this afternoon, and I was wondering if you could maybe…"

"Sure!" Quincy said, lurching to his feet. "Of course! I'd love to help!"

Pit made a subtle 'tone-down-the-enthusiasm' gesture behind Nya's back.

"Great," Nya giggled. "Look, meet me by Ness's room in about a half-hour, okay?"

"Great," Quincy echoed breathlessly as she left, practically twisting around in his chair to watch her.

Pit laughed. "Easy there, Romeo," he teased as he reached across the table to tug Quincy's hat over his eyes. "You got a half hour to chill before you go talk to her."

With a huge sigh, Quincy twisted back around to face Pit for a moment, his face still flushed with excitement. Pikachu's head bobbled up next to Pit, and Pit let the small pokemon pick its way into his lap, where it settled down for a nap. The angel scratched it behind the ears.

Quincy suddenly slammed both palms down on the table and lurched up from the booth.

"Hey," Pit protested, practically throwing the yellow pokemon to the side as he scrambled to his feet as well, but Quincy was already bolting for the door.

"Hey!" Pit hollered. "You've still got half an hour, lover-boy!"

"I'll talk to you later!" Quincy yelled back, dashing through the doors with a concerned Pikachu in hot pursuit.

Pit sighed and sank back into the booth.

"Slick," Roy chortled, peeking his head over to look at the angel. He rolled his eyes. "Why is everyone falling in love these days? First Marth, then Ike and now this guy."

"It's probably the weather," Pit suggested. "'Love is in the air' and all that, I think. Either that or some mind-controlling pollen."

Roy raised an eyebrow.

"It could happen! You never know!" Pit said defensively. "Besides," he continued. "I thought you and Sheik were…?"

Roy grinned sheepishly. "It's still a work in process."

The angel rolled his eyes. "You're all weird. You won't catch me looking at a girl that way for a long time."

"You probably think girls still have cooties, don't you?"

Pit didn't answer.

Roy laughed. "You'll grow out of it eventually."

**xXx**

Quincy barreled around a corner with Pikachu bouncing along behind him. He didn't realize it, but he actually looked quite a bit like Ash Ketchum, running as he was with his baseball cap and navy shirt with a Nike swoop across the front. That and the fact that he had a Pikachu trailing after him made many people back home confuse the two of them. And they weren't even related.

He skidded to a stop with a screech of protest from his shoe soles outside of Ness's bedroom door and was about to bang on the door when the door opened under the palm of his hand and Nya stepped out, grinning slyly at him as she closed the door silently.

"You're early," she said in a hushed voice. "I just got Ness down for his nap, but just watch, Lucas'll be up again in a second."

"…Oh," was all Quincy could come up with to say. Pikachu chirped his opinion from the ground, remarking in its own way of speaking that Marth would have something suave to say in a situation like this, but as usual, Quincy didn't bother translating. Instead, he shifted his weight awkwardly, feeling his face heat up. "…Will I be in your way if I'm early?"

"Of course not." Nya beamed, squatting down to scratch Pikachu's ears. The pokemon squealed and lapsed into involuntary muscle spasms of joy, its legs twitching sporadically. Nya laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Does he always do this?"

"Nah, he just likes you." Quincy slid down the wall into a pretzel-legged position and yanked his hat off briefly to run a hand nervously through his hair. Nya reached across Pikachu to tug the baseball cap out of his fingers.

The pokemon trainer made a slightly strangled yelp of surprise. He had actually been more startled by Nya's hand brushing his than the fact that she had stolen his hat.

"You look so cute and naive without it," she explained, holding the cap up to her face to hide a smug smile.

Quincy felt his jaw drop open and couldn't come up with anything good to say. Plus, he thought as his heart rate spiked, he had a feeling anything he said would only come out garbled. He didn't understand how guys like Marth managed to do this sort of thing all day.

Thankfully, before the pause grew too awkward, Lucas's door eased open, and a bleary-eyed blonde boy stumbled out, rubbing at his eyes sleepily.

"Lucas," Nya chided, standing up to guide him back into the bedroom. "You need to sleep now; otherwise you'll be exhausted by your bedtime."

"I heard noises," Lucas said fuzzily. "And I'm not tired, Ms. Nya! How come others don't have to sleep like me and Ness?"

Quincy stood up, watching Nya coax Lucas back into bed, feeling as if some sort of moment had been lost between them. He analyzed the last two minutes or so, wondering what he had said…or, more likely, what he hadn't said.

"Any thoughts?" he couldn't help asking Pikachu, who gave him a 'you're-seriously-_that_-desperate?' look before shaking its head.

Ness's door suddenly smashed open, and a squealing child rocketed out of it, a fuzzy blue blanket tied around his shoulders like a cape. Quincy impulsively darted after him; just managing to a pick out a cry of "NO MORE NAPS!" over Ness's slapping footfalls.

"Go Quincy!" several staffers called as they saw him, and Quincy couldn't help grinning broadly as he raced after Ness—who was remarkably fast for having such short legs. He finally caught up and grabbed Ness by his makeshift cape, tugging the kid back into Quincy's arms.

Nya jogged up to him and grabbed Ness's flailing arm just in time. Quincy, who had always brawled from the sidelines, was—unfortunately—outmatched by the battled-experienced youngster and had been about to lose his grip on Ness's shirt collar.

Ness pouted as Nya and Quincy shooed him back into his room, and Nya asked Quincy to lean up against the door once they got it latched to make sure he didn't open it again.

"Is it always like this when you try to make them nap?" Quincy couldn't help asking as he did what she asked, rocking back on his heels to put as much weight as possible against the door.

"With Ness, yeah," she nodded. "Lucas usually goes to sleep right away, but you have to tire Ness out first." She played absently with a strand of her hair. "But they're both cute, aren't they?"

"I guess," Quincy shrugged, wondering if it would be too cheesy to say that he thought Nya was cuter than Ness and Lucas put together. In the end, he freaked out and said nothing. Maybe when he was older.

Nya was still holding his hat, and she was tracing the laces that made up the logo emblazoned on it thoughtfully. "Where'd you get this?"

"….My mom…?"

She laughed, and Quincy marveled at how contagious her laugh was as he started to giggle too. She seemed like such a nice person—warm and easy to talk to—but the more Quincy thought about it the more he realized that he actually knew next to nothing about Nya herself. He knew that she was supposedly working at Brawl to pay for college when she was older, he knew that she was two years older then him **(AN: Go Quince! Way to hit on the older girls! XD)**, and he knew that she had been in boarding school since she was little, but that was it. He didn't even know what sort of food she liked.

Just as he was about to muster up the courage to ask, his door bounced as Ness charged it from the other side. Quincy yelped and threw his shoulder against the wood, sort of surprised by how strong the kid was. Pikachu tried to be helpful and leaned its whopping fifteen pounds against the door as well, but it bounced the same amount the second time the kid ran into it.

Quincy stumbled back after the second assault and leapt back into action just as Nya moved over to help. In the end, both of their shoulders struck the door at the same time and their combined weight was enough to force the latch to catch. The pokemon trainer was panting a little from the effort, and Nya slowly slid down the wall, her shoulders shaking in hysterical laughter.

"What's so funny?" Quincy wanted to know, talking a self-conscious step backwards when he realized how close they were.

In-between giggles, Nya managed to gasp, "You were so _serious!_"

Quincy wasn't sure whether to be tickled or offended.

Acting completely on the spur of the moment, he crouched down next to her and gently took the hat from in-between her fingers and set it on top of her head, brushing her hair out of the way so he could pull it on properly.

"Quincy…?" she asked, her voice quiet as she lifted her hand dreamily to touch the hat's brim. "What are….?"

"You should hold onto it," Quincy told her, smiling warmly as he dared to put his hand on her jean-clad knee. "It looks good on you."

Her face reddened, and she started to pull the hat off. "No, I couldn't. It's, like, your trademark."

"No!" Quincy laughed, reaching over to cram the cap back on her head. "I insist." Their hands tangled, and they both lost their balance, Nya sliding all the way down the wall, her hands clasped protectively over her head, her shoulders shaking once again with silent laughter. Quincy was sprawled on his back across the hallway, looking up at Nya upside-down, a huge grin on his face.

"Fine," Nya said, pulling the hat a little further down her head. "I'll keep it."

"I have others," Quincy assured her as he sat back up.

Pikachu, who had been watching over the whole scene with a sort of terrified fascination, unfroze enough to squeak something in the pokemon trainer's direction, an awed tone in its voice.

"What did it say?" Nya asked.

Quincy shrugged. "I'm not allowed to say those words." He reached over to scratch Pikachu behind the ears. "I think we've scared him a little. I usually don't do…" he trailed off, embarrassed.

"You usually don't do what?" Nya demanded.

"This sort of thing…" Quincy mumbled lamely. "I usually don't talk to girls…like this…"

She looked on the verge of saying something, but just then Ness's door slammed open and the kid popped out, the terrycloth cape still in place around his shoulders.

"NO NAAPS!" he shrieked, darting down the hallway just like before.

They stared after him for a moment, and then Quincy thunked his head against the wall. "We have to chase after him _again?_"

Nya leapt to her feet lithely, offering him a hand to pull him up as well. "Man, you should've seen him the one time Link let him drink an espresso before we could warn him about the aftereffects."

He took her hand without hesitation this time, and they sprinted down the hallway after Ness, leaving a confused Pikachu sitting in their wake. It blinked several times, then scratched its ear, chalking Quincy's change towards girls up to a human thing.

Lucas stuck his head out of his bedroom, running a slightly pudgy hand through his tousled hair. He just caught sight of Quincy and Nya running in tandem around a corner—looking like the next Pokemon game duo—before they disappeared.

"Why is everyone so noisy?" he complained dully as he slumped back into his bedroom, trailing a security blanket on the ground behind him.

Pikachu yawned and scampered after him, mewing something about how it must have something to do with the weather.

"**Loooove is in the aiiiiiir….!" *is shot* XD I apologize if I messed up Ness's and Lucas's characters. **

**There's your dose of Quincy/Nya fluff. I felt they weren't getting enough love as a pairing. **

**Quick question for you all: What should I do about reviews? Are they taking up too much space? Should I keep responding to them all individually? Or do you guys all like that I respond like that? If you don't, what do you suggest I do instead because I really want to thank everyone personally…(Gah, it's a dilemma!)? Please let me know. **

**Please review! The next chapter's probably going to have something to do with baseball bats. (mwahaha.)**

**In the likely event that I won't get to update until next week sometime, have a happy Easter!**


	27. Chapter 27: Bombs, Bats, and Haircuts

**Greetings! **

**By popular demand, I'm sticking with my old way of thanking reviewers. You guys seem to like it. :) But this section got long again….**

**Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; Thank you! I feel like I'm good at writing cute fluff. XD ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Took me long enough though, ne? :) ~ Thanks to AquosBrawlerStar; Thank you! Hope you didn't hit your head. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Jaxin**_**; Yes, I screwed up Ness's and Lucas's ages, and I'm sorry. Please forgive me. ~ Thanks to **_**Upsilon Four**_**; XD Yeah, I plan to have another episode of Pit-with-sugar sometime soon. XD It's gonna be epic. (Good to know someone else cares about spelling/grammar!) ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; I was actually taught that too...Weird. XD Once again, your review made me laugh, thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; I actually don't know that much about Ness and Lucas (hence the age-mixup), so I just wrote them on the fly. I'm glad you liked it. ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Thank you so much! That was one of the most awesome reviews I've gotten! ~ Thanks to **_**Araceli L**_**; Yay! You reviewed! (I apologize about the Ness/Lucas age thing. ;_;) I think that just like you can make characters all deep and meaningful, I can reduce characters to pure fluff if I want to. Thank you for reviewing! (there's no need to be jealous) ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondTHEspriter**_**; :) *returns hug* I think I've had the 'where-does-Genevieve-live' conversation before, but I don't think it was with you. XD Yes, Nya/Quincy totally need a name. XD Thank you so much! (BTW I totally came back because I missed my reviewers. You're all awesome.) ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; You could put the bomb under Genevieve's porch, if you like. XD I'm taking your advice on the author notes thing, thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; XD yes they are. I'm not sure I understand your question; I just enjoy writing fluff and I can do it easily (feel free to message me/ask again if I misunderstood. ;_;) ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; the baseball bats don't actually play a huge part…sorry. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**DR.Z**_**; Thank you so much! :) ~ And a last thanks to **_**Sir Starll**_**; Wow, you really get the whole Nya/Quincy issue. Awesome! Thank you so much! :)**

**Seriously, thank you all so much. It's awesome to have so many people excited that I'm back. :)**

**Disclaimer: none of this SSBB stuff belongs to me. The two nameless techies do though, as does the spider bomb. And I apologize for subtly mocking the Japanese again—I love the Japanese. They make awesome things. Don't hate me. XD**

**I get the feeling that this sort of chapter is what I'm best at writing: random fluff with a few really lame jokes in there that has no real point. XD But whatever. I'll keep at it until someone tells me to stop.**

**Chapter 27: Bombs, Bats, and Haircuts**

One of the remarkable things about Brawl was that it was constantly updating itself to please the crowds that funded it. Many of these small changes included the items that sporadically dropped from nets in the ceiling to add another element of randomness to the fight.

At the moment, Marth, Link, Sheik, and Kirby all had agreed to help out some of the techies test out a new gadget that the Japanese were apparently all excited about called the spider bomb.

The techies were locked up inside their booth, and had apparently been a little button-happy, because random items were dropping down more often than usual. They hadn't dropped the spider bomb yet, but there had been a massive gang-up on Sheik only a few moments ago to try and get the grenade launcher away from her.

After making sure that the launcher had been safely tossed over the side of the stage, Marth rolled under Link's sword thrust and snatched up a baseball bat that had just thunked to the ground behind the Hyrulian. He swung it thoughtfully in his hand as he straightened, getting used to the extra weight in his left hand. Due to an unfortunate accident awhile ago where Marth had accidentally smashed Ike's nose with one of those things, they had been temporarily removed from the item arsenal. Marth was still a bit annoyed that Ike hadn't ducked in time (the guy really needed to improve his reflexes), because Marth liked the bats and didn't want to stop using them.

He whirled around as Link turned and slammed the bat hard against Link's shield, then quickly followed with a high slash with his sword to Link's head. Link, unlike Ike, was able to duck in time and pulled out his bow, forcing Marth to do a clumsy back handspring that actually put him right in Kirby's range, although he didn't realize that until it was too late.

Link laughed as Marth dropped sword and bat to try and pry Kirby off of his head, and then jumped over them both to engage Sheik, who was doubled over laughing as well and looked up just in time to block the other Hyrulian's high kick with her arm. They tried to fight for a few minutes and then eventually broke apart, cackling hysterically—Link actually sinking to his knees and crying—at Marth, who was still struggling with the little pink blob that had suctioned itself to his face.

"Where's the camera when you need it?" Link wheezed when Marth finally flung Kirby off of the stage and flipped Link the bird as he edge-guarded to make sure Kirby couldn't grab him again.

"I swear if either of you mention a _word _of this little incident to _anyone,_" the Altean snapped, tossing his head triumphantly as Kirby hit the safety net and started shuffling smugly back towards the entrance. "You will never see the light of day again."

Link gave him the thumbs-up sign, but he didn't dare talk for fear of bursting into giggles, and his eyes were still sparkling with tears.

Sheik rolled her eyes, and then smartly stepped out of the way as a yellow-dyed balloon dropped onto the stage next to her.

Marth and Link's eyes met, blue to blue, and then they both ran for the balloon at the same time, all humor forgotten with the promise of continuing the fight.

"Bloodthirsty boys," Sheik sighed as she grabbed Marth's cape as he ran past, jerking him off of his planned trajectory and making him stumble backwards with a yelp.

"Sucker!" Link laughed as Marth struggled in Sheik's choke-grip and proceeded to kick the balloon so as to launch it back into the air and trigger its countdown before it burst, already imagining helpful things like blasters and lightsabers.

"No!" Sheik tried to warn him while still trying to stop Marth from bringing his sword arm around. When she had looked up a moment ago, she hadn't only seen the plummeting balloon; she had also seen the techies inside their little operations booth grinning ear to ear and all but rubbing their hands together with evil glee. "Link, wait! It's a—"

She would have said more, but Marth finally twisted out of her arms and slashed violently at her chest. The blow mostly glanced off, but it was enough to cut off what she was about to say.

Meanwhile, Link danced underneath the balloon, fully expecting the usual confetti of random items. Therefore, he was surprised when the box exploded into none of those things, but instead about ten bombs—all lit and smoking.

There was a horrible moment where all three of them just stared confusedly at the little black spheres that were suddenly littering one part of the stage. Then, all three pairs of eyes were drawn curiously down to the one bomb among them that started to pulse an angry red color.

Link cussed.

A nanosecond later the whole stadium seemed to explode with a tremendous _BOOM_ that almost have some sort of twang to it as it vibrated the floor and expanded. It was like a huge clap of thunder, rattling chairs and sending an earthquake-like shock wave all through the entire complex. The stage itself lit up for second, and the three people still standing on it seemed to freeze for a moment, before being launched screaming off into the safety net at speeds that were probably comparable to the speeds of a small airplane.

Thankfully, the net was built especially to deal with launch speeds like this, and therefore no bones were broken.

"YOU STUPID ELF!" Marth raged, staggering to his feet to whack Link in the head, not even noticing the fact that his left sleeve was smoking in his hurry to exact revenge.

"I'M SORRY!" Link screeched back, knocking Marth's hand away before the Altean could smack him again.

"Marth," Sheik said dully as she sat up, rubbing at a developing bruise on her temple. "You're on fire."

"I'm _always_ on fire," Marth grumbled as he snuffed out the tiny flame on his arm.

There was a dim sound of laughter from the stage, and a few dark-haired teenage boys stuck their heads over the edge to see if the brawlers were okay.

"You alright down there?" one called.

"That was_ so_ awesome!" the other raved.

"You were _supposed_ to be testing out the spider bomb!" Link shouted testily up at them. "Not messing around with random items!"

More laughter.

"Do you think I'd get sent to the psychiatrist if I jumped up there and slashed them?" Marth asked calmly as he picked up Falchion from the net where it had fallen and twirled it idly in his hand.

"Yeah, probably," Sheik nodded.

"Dang it."

"Look, Kirby's back up here already," the more serious of the two teenagers shouted down to them. "So if you're still up for the spider bomb test…"

"Yeah yeah yeah," Link called back up, yanking off his hat to shake the soot from it. "We'll be right back up—but no more tricks!"

"Sure, no problem," the jokester agreed, then elbowed his partner and said with a snigger, "Tricks are for kids."

"Why me?" Marth asked himself as everyone began the short trek off of the net and through a small but steep tunnel that deposited them right back where they started. "I agree to help test out new items—not knowing what the heck they could do—and they don't even honor me by giving me the good techies. No, I have to get the noobs who like messing with people for the fun of it and probably can't even lift a sword. Genevieve-wannabies."

"Marth," Sheik whispered. "You're talking to yourself."

Link made 'he's crazy' gesture behind Marth's back, and then grinned innocently when Marth whirled around to glare at him.

"And let the battle recommence!" the comedian techie said with a comical bow, mimicking the announcer's voice as he skipped into the operations booth. Link made a vague Hyrulian hand gesture in the direction of the booth that literally meant 'son of pigs,' and even though no one but him understood the movement, it made him feel better.

Kirby bounced onto the stage, and then fixed its large eyes on Marth, grinning in anticipation.

Marth grinned as well, but his grin was his grim smile of revenge that made him look slightly unhinged. He leapt after Kirby, managing to get in a lucky hit that sent the small pink ball careening across the mostly flat stage, struggling to right itself.

Link barked a laugh, and then moved to engage Sheik.

"Here it comes. Try not to kill yourselves," one of the techies announced dryly over the loudspeaker. A smooth, black ball with a red hourglass shape presumably meant to resemble the mark identifying a black widow spider stenciled into it rolled out of the net and bounced onto the ground.

Kirby made a leap for it, but was tackled by Marth and the two of them went rolling off to the side, Marth's sword skittering out of his hand in the ensuing scuffle and knocking the bomb just out of Link's reach, and right into Sheik's hands.

Link lunged for the little sphere just as Sheik picked it up and chucked it straight up into the air. Link staggered to a stop, his shoes squeaking a little against the floor.

"Your funeral," he sighed, following the ball's arc with his eyes and stepping out of what he assumed would be the blast range. As it turned out, he didn't step far enough away.

Marth grabbed hold of Kirby's small arm and flung it over his shoulder and across the stage again, then caught a glimpse of the falling spider bomb and groaned, "Not again."

The ball bounced as it struck the ground, and then cracked open with a pneumatic hiss. Everyone had a fleeting impression of a white cloud before they were struck by what felt like a semi-melted marshmallow that had the force of a seventy-mile-per-hour truck.

Marth was the first to recover. "Silk," he said weakly, trying to lift his arm, which was pinned to the stage by a sticky, pale white substance. "That thing shot _silk_…"

"Um, doi," came the techie's droning voice through the speaker system. "_Spider_ bomb. What did you expect?"

Kirby crawled laboriously to its feet and horked up a large glob of white that had gone in its mouth, and then pulled a face as it started to wipe the stuff out of its eyes.

"_So_ gross," Sheik said with a shiver as she literally peeled herself off of the floor. The entire stage was covered in grayish white goo that—judging from Marth's inability to pry his fallen sword out of its silky grave—was extremely adhesive to any substance.

Calling up to the booth, Sheik shouted, "I think you guys need to limit the power of this. It went _everywhere_." Including inside her shoes and across the light fixtures hanging over her head. She didn't even want to think about what it had done to her hair. Considering what Marth and Link looked like, she guessed that she must look pretty bad as well. And as for Kirby…

Link squatted down next to it and started trying to help it de-silk itself. "You look like the head of a snowman," he said mildly.

"The pot calls the kettle black," Marth quipped from across the stage, where he was still wrestling with his sword and had now managed to get his cape stuck as well.

"_Epic_," the sarcastic techie chortled. "That was better than the balloon thing. I wish we recorded this…"

Marth finally worked Falchion free and stood up only to discover that his feet had become glued to the ground.

"Yeah," he agreed with Sheik. "A little less of this stuff would be nice."

"Don't worry!" the other techie called. "The Japs are telling us that the stuff should be water soluble."

"_'Should?'_" Sheik mimicked incredulously, yanking her spattered scarf away from her face.

"Probably," he corrected, taking a reflexive step back into the booth as Sheik caught his gaze with her fierce red eyes. "Like, an 80% chance."

"Oh jeez," Link rolled his eyes as he stood up, tugging his hat free of his hair. "See if I ever sign up for item-testing again."

"Hear hear," Marth nodded. "Let's got see if we're lucky enough to get in that eighty-percent." He started to squish his way over to the stage entrance, the other three following his example.

**xXx**

"_So_ nasty," Marth said in the locker room, and then hissed in a breath as Link helped him yank his cloak over his head. It had become plastered to the back of his neck, and came free with a sick sound reminiscent of ripping a band-aid off.

"This stuff had _better_ wash off," Link growled as he started to off exterior layers of his own tunics. "Or I swear I'm never signing up for this again. Ganondorf can get sprayed with sticky crud next time instead of me."

Several moments and many lost hairs later, Marth managed to strip down to his boxers and made a dash for the showers.

Link was still struggling to peel his pants off as the pressurized water started to pound the tiles in the bathroom section of the locker room.

"Dangit. Hey…Link?" came the Altean's annoyed voice from behind a red-tinged shower curtain.

"It doesn't come out, does it?" Link assumed wearily.

Marth stuck his head out of the shower and shook it.

Link sighed, and then picked angrily at a piece of his blondish hair that had a large glob stuck right in the middle. "I guess I've been meaning to get a haircut…"

Sheik, wearing a large sweatshirt that hung down to her knees like a dress, suddenly burst into the men's locker room, holding her dripping braid in one hand as she roared, "IT DOESN'T COME OUT!"

"And this is the _men's _locker room!" Marth yelped as he ducked smartly back behind the shower curtain.

Kirby bounded in after Sheik, somehow miraculously clean.

"Is _nothing_ sacred?" Marth demanded, throwing his hands up towards the ceiling. "_MEN'S_ locker room, Kirby! And I'm in the _shower_!"

"How'd you get it off?" Link and Sheik bellowed.

Kirby shrugged, and then explained that it didn't have anything for the silk to really get stuck to, whereas the three humans had lots of hair and clothing.

Marth shut off the water and came out of the bathroom with a terrycloth towel wrapped around his waist.

"_Don't_ say it," he snapped at Link, who was looking at him with a 'thank-goodness-I'm-not-you' expression. Due to Marth's darker hair, the white silk blobs were especially obvious. "So what now?"

A Brawl staffer had the courtesy to knock on the door before entering. Like most of the staffers, he was an older teenager and appeared to be from Oriental origins. He was also holding a fresh stack of towels and looked rather startled to see two extra characters in the room.

"This'll be one to tell the kids," he sighed, pushing a pair of circular glasses up his nose. Like most of the Japanese staffers, his English was fluent, but slightly accented. "Here we have a half-dressed Sheik and a pouty Kirby, both of whom are not supposed to be here, as well as a mostly undressed Link and a towel-clad Marth who looks like he decided to play statue under a huge flock of pigeons."

Marth flushed as Link fought to stifle a snigger. "Poor choice of words."

The staffer shrugged. "I know a girl who's good with the scissors, if you know what I mean."

"That'd be great," Sheik said resignedly.

**xXx**

"Oh jeez," Ike said as Sheik slouched into the cafeteria and fell down in the booth seat next to him at dinner time. There was a long silence where he just took in Sheik's new hairstyle—which mostly just consisted of much less hair than usual—and then Marth and Link edged into the room as well and the silence expanded to blanket the entire room.

"_Dude_," Roy finally squeaked as Marth threw himself angrily into a chair and Link followed suit, both of them trying to ignore the whispering that had started behind their backs.

Ike peeked over from the next table. "Look, I know you guys think I'm awesome-incarnate," he said. "But stealing my hairstyle? Really?"

"I dare you to ask what happened," Link hissed.

Marth leaned on his arm, running a hand absently across the back of his neck and the abrupt fringe of hair that cut short several inches before where it used to. "For future reference, if you ever see a little black ball thingy with a red hourglass on the side, don't throw it."

Ike laughed, finally making the connection with the loss of hair to the posters stuck up periodically around the complex asking for volunteers to help test out a spider bomb. "Silk?"

Marth nodded miserably.

"It's just hair," Ike said, more to Sheik than Marth. Sheik's hair was cut to just below her chin now—the long braid temporarily gone. "It'll grow back, you'll see. It's kind of funny if nothing else."

Roy grinned at Marth. "And besides, now no one can confuse you for a girl anymore."

Marth blinked, his bad mood erased. "Whoa, _seriously?_ That's awesome!"

Link glanced over at Sheik, who still looked a little upset about the loss of her braid. "Hey," he said gently, tipping his chin subtly in Ike's direction and pitching his voice to make sure Roy didn't hear. "He still likes you."

"And Zelda still likes you," Sheik answered in a whisper, grinning softly as Ike absently put his arm around her shoulder. Roy flushed a little but didn't say anything.

"You know," Marth was saying. "This is all pretty ridiculous. I mean, where else would something like this happen?"

"Yeah," Roy jumped in enthusiastically. "Can you imagine if we were stuck in school or something?"

Link nodded, breaking into a grin as he leaned back in his chair. "I think the opportunity to live here is worth a bad haircut now and then, don't you think?" he asked, being unusually serious.

Marth and Sheik nodded quietly.

"Spoken with a true farmer's wisdom," Roy couldn't resist saying.

"Shut up," the Hyrulian grumbled as he flicked the back of Roy's head. Roy hit Link's shoulder back in a brotherly sort of way, and Marth chose that moment to break the news to Ike that the baseball bats were back in the game, earning a grimace from the latter.

As the conversation drifted away from Link's wise proverb and off to more normal teenage topics, the mood was lost, but some of the soft, grateful feeling remained.

Just another day within the Brawl complex.

**Hooooooly cow I got so lazy with this chapter about halfway through. ;_; I apologize. **

**AN**** (I'm trying something new here, bear with me XD): The whole bomb thing actually happened to me. I don't know if it's happened to anyone else or if it was just a glitch or whatever, but it was epic. I also realized after writing everything that I made a terrible pun when I said 'Marth chose that moment to break the news'….I'm sorry. Feel free to clutch your head and groan. (If you don't get it, that's fine too. XD)**

**The next chapter is McDonalds. (mwahahaha—it's not hard to see where that's going to go.) After that I have no idea, but I've had this random cross-dressing/truth-or-dare idea floating around for a bit, so I might use that if I have nothing else. XD Hopefully the next chapter will have more of a purpose. **


	28. Chapter 28: I'm Lovin' It

**Hallo! Jumping right into it….**

**Thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; (Hey, I did the username right (I think)!) I've never heard of the dark hole glitch…hm. *youtubes* ~ Thanks to **_**MEAM-neko n.n**_**; Ooh, I should do a school arc, thanks for the idea! ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; You're right on the money! Hope you enjoy this chapter! (Sheik's hair ended up getting cut in sort of a layered bob style if you're really curious) ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; XD Yes they are, thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; XD Thank you for all of the compliments and suggestions, they're all very helpful. :) The bomb will be put to good use. ~ Thanks to **_**DR.Z**_**; Yay! It's not just me! XD ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; Ooh, master balls….There's a thought. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**AquosBrawlerStar**_**; Sooner or later, everyone calls Link an elf. XD ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; I literally fell off my desk chair laughing at the first line in your review. XD My sympathies to your softball-bat incidents. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; Thank you so much for pointing out the Hyrulian/Hylian difference (can't believe I didn't know that…)! I don't think most SSBB fanfictions are trying to be funny, but I always like ones that are just because the characters are always amusing to mess with. (?) ~ Thanks to **_**Jaxin**_**; Poor Link. XD Thank you! ~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; XD It'd be fun to give Pit a love interest, and she MIGHT be named Angel just for you (and because that'd be hysterical). ~ Thanks to **_**PKLOVEOMEGA**_**; they really need to put a lock on the locker room doors, don't they? XD ~ And a final thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; It's a bit contradictory, but whatever. XD Marth is always manly, no matter what the yaoi fanpeople say. ;)**

**Disclaimer; SSBB does not belong to me, neither does Tears for Fears, and neither does any of the McDonalds stuff (Big Mac, McNuggets, McFlurry, McMarth (oh wait…) etc.)**

**Second disclaimer just to make sure nobody gets the wrong idea from one of Genevieve's meaner lines: Marth and Link are 100% heterosexual. No worries. XD**

**I keep forgetting to put this in here: Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 28: I'm Lovin' It**

"Checkmate," Samus said as she moved her rook into position on the chessboard, trapping Snake's king. He looked for a way out, and upon finding none tipped his own king over in a sign of forfeit. Then he got up and stalked out of the rec room without a word, almost smashing into Marth as the Altean walked in.

Samus perked up as soon as she caught sight of Marth's cruelly short hair. She had always liked it long—now it just looked like he was going off to war. The fact that he was wearing a grey T-shirt with the words 'Don't take life too seriously; you won't get out alive' stenciled across the front and bleached out jeans helped with the image a little, but he still looked…hardened, somehow, without the fringe of hair shielding his eyes.

"Play me?" he asked, reading a long arm across the table to grab the black pieces that Samus had taken hostage over the course of the last game and started to set them up along his own side.

Samus shrugged, wrenching the rubber bang out of her hair and letting it float in a light cloud down to her shoulders. "Nah, I'm not in the mood anymore. I want to go out somewhere."

The corner of Marth's mouth quirked up in a soft smile. "It's the hair, isn't it?"

Samus flushed; embarrassed that he had managed to read her mind. "No! No, I mean…It wasn't your fault. It'll just take some getting used to, that's all.

"Okay then," he said, standing up and grabbing her arm, gently pulling her off of the high stool she had been sitting on. "Let's get used to it. Let's go somewhere fun." He walked silently across the carpeted floor, holding Samus's hand in his. With no warning, he pulled her into a quick hug and murmured something that she didn't quite catch.

Before she could reboot her brain enough to ask him to repeat it, Quincy and Pikachu bounced into the room, the pokemon scampering up the back of Samus's too-big T-shirt to perch on her shoulder and Quincy screeching to a halt in the doorway with a _'hold-the-phone'_ look on his face.

Marth sighed lightly, his face suggesting that he was a little annoyed at being interrupted, but then he plastered on a cheerful grin for Quincy as he asked, "What's up, squirt?"

"We're going to McDonalds," Quincy recovered enough to say eagerly. Considering that the closet McDonalds was a ways away (in reality, it was only about ten miles, but the roads in that area were so windy, it took almost a half-hour to drive out there) to the isolated Brawl stadium, going to Micky D's was a special occasion treat.

"Please tell me it's Nya and not Ike driving."

Quincy shook his head, looking genuinely disappointed. "No, Nya's busy doing something else, and Ike's still got that Nintendo car that we're all going to pile into."

"'We're?'" Samus asked.

"Sure," Quincy nodded. "You two, Ike, Link, Zelda, Sheik, Pit…the usual people. Everyone who went to The Brink. We're all meeting up in the parking lot in about fifteen minutes."

"Sweet," Samus said easily. "This'll be fun."

Marth gave her an _'if-you-say-so'_ look as she dragged him out of the room and down towards the exterior exit.

**xXx**

"Hey, look who decided to crash the party," Link laughed as Marth, Samus and Quincy joined up to finish off a large group totaling nine people—one more person than they had car seats.

This problem had obviously just occurred to Ike, because he stopped twirling the key ring around his index finger and asked bluntly of the smallest three people in the group; Quincy, Pit, and Roy, "Which one of you is riding in the trunk?"

"Wait," Roy blurted. "Last time I was here you guys said that was illegal." He turned to Marth and Link for support. "Remember that one time we borrowed that two-seat convertible and went out to Dairy Queen?"

Marth and Link both burst into raucous laughter that was quickly stifled as their faces reddened embarrassedly, making everyone else wonder just what the heck had happened on that particular trip.

"It's technically illegal, I think," Ike nodded, getting back on subject. "But unless one of you wants to stay behind, someone's riding in the trunk."

"Or we could strap them to the roof-rack," Link suggested helpfully.

Ike nodded like it was a valid suggestion. "That too."

"I can ride in the back," Pit piped up quickly, ever the innocent angel.

"Awesome," Ike said with a broad grin. "You get first order when we get there, if you like."

In the end, it was an extremely tight fit. Ike—being the only one who really had some idea how to drive—got the driver's seat (obviously). Link and Marth had had a quick scuffle over who got shotgun, and in the end Sheik had snuck in while both of them were occupied and stolen it for herself. What with the after-effect of the spider-bomb showing on all three of them, they looked like a bizarre family; Link and Sheik possibly being twins with the taller Marth as an older brother.

What with the front seats out of the option, there was a mad rush for window seats, with Quincy, Roy, Zelda, and Samus claiming all four for themselves because Marth and Link had been rolling around wrestling in the dirt. By the time the grass-stained and dusty two finally clambered into the car, everyone was pumped up for World War Three or worse. God help whoever was taking orders at the McDonalds.

About fifteen minutes into the ride, right in the middle of the thirteenth verse of 'bottles of beer on the wall,' Pit shouted "Hey!" from the trunk as he suddenly had an epiphany.

Everyone but Ike twisted around to give the angel a quizzical look as he stuck his head up behind Samus, Marth, and Roy, who were crammed like sardines in the backseat.

"I just remembered something," Pit explained. "When I was talking with Dr. Stoelhart, the psychiatrist, I think he said something about Genevieve working at McDonalds." It was a testament to Pit's character that he was able to say Genevieve's name so easily after only a few weeks.

Ike slammed on the brakes and pulled onto the road's shoulder, earning several horn blasts and obscene Italian hand gestures from the cars behind him. Oblivious to them, he twisted around in his seat to stare open-mouthed at Pit like the rest of the car's occupants.

"And you just _forgot _about this?" Sheik finally asked.

"I'm turning the car around," Ike growled.

"No, wait!" Marth called from the backseat. "This is perfect!" He was smiling his unhinged smile, his mouth twisted up sardonically in a way that made everyone just a little bit nervous. "Don't you see? We can totally mess with her! It'll be awesome!"

"That would be pretty cool," Samus said grudgingly.

"Food fight!" Link hollered. "This is going to be _so _cool!"

"I want to hit her again," Pit announced darkly from the trunk. There was a moment of awkward silence following that proclamation, but then Marth grinned and reached back to ruffle Pit's hair, saying, "That's the spirit, kid," as he did so.

"I want a shamrock shake," Quincy announced.

"It's not March anymore," Zelda pointed out.

"Exactly."

Samus shot Marth a pained look. "You taught them too well."

The Altean held up his hands in denial. "Hey, I didn't teach them anything. It's not my fault if they decide to do what I do. Besides, half of this is coming from Link or Roy, not me."

Samus socked his shoulder, and he responded by tugging on her hair.

"Real mature, guys," Roy said dryly, rolling his eyes and scooting away from what was starting to resemble a mini-wrestling match. Link just laughed.

Still feeling like it was a bad idea; Ike pulled back out into the road and continued driving. Sheik reached over for the radio dial and found a fuzzy station playing an old Tears for Fears song.

"NOOO! _Change it!_" came the nearly unanimous roar from the rear of the car.

"Never!" she laughed, then cranked the volume as loud as it would go, rattling the Honda on its axels.

"Must we?" Ike asked wearily.

She grinned at him, rendering him incapable of coming up with anything else to say for several minutes.

"I spy Golden Arches," Quincy said. Ike hung a sharp left, and the car felt like it teetered two wheels for a moment before settling.

"I know I've said this before," Marth called from the back. "But all four wheels are supposed to touch the ground at the same time."

"At least I remembered to take off the parking brake," Ike sniped as he pulled into the McDonalds parking lot next to a red Toyota.

Zelda smiled as she opened her door. "Some fries sound really good at the moment."

Link hopped out after her on the same side and managed to hook a finger in the belt loop of her khaki shorts, drawing her close enough so that he could press his forehead lightly against hers. In a low voice so that Marth couldn't hear, he said, "Then fries you shall have, my princess." His voice was slightly lilted in a Hylian border accent when he said this—over time the accent had developed into a court accent to suit new surroundings, but Zelda had told him once that she liked his old tone better.

She giggled and ran her hands through his cropped hair, not at all bothered by the length (or lack of).

"Oi!" Pit hollered when he caught sight of the Hylains as he threw open the door. "PDA! You can get arrested for that!"

Marth grinned and shot his arm out to snag Samus' bare arm, pulling her into a spinning hug just to spite the angel. Pit smirked and rolled his eyes like a father would at a smart-aleck child, then walked the rest of the way into the restaurant and immediately tried to back out again, slamming into Ike's chest in his attempt.

"What's wro—?" Ike started to ask, grabbing Pit by the shoulders and propelling him forward so that everyone else could squeeze through the small door. Then he looked up and realized that he didn't need an answer.

Behind the counter stood a young man, probably around their age, manning the cash register. He looked normal enough, with ashy blonde hair and a dusting of light freckles across his face—but that wasn't what caused almost everyone's stomachs to flip nervously.

It was a flash of curly, bright red hair towards the rear of the kitchen.

Quincy and Pit both pressed up against the door, Pit's face especially pale.

"It's okay," Marth said softly, kneading Pit's tensed shoulders in an attempt to make him calm down. "It's okay. You're fine. Look, she's working the fry machine at minimum wage. You're a brawler worth about a million bucks. It's okay. You're okay."

"Thanks," Pit said, releasing a huge sigh that seemed to take the majority of his tension with it.

"No problem, kiddo," Marth said as he ruffled Pit's hair and strode off to join the boys as they started figuring out orders.

"I think we all need shakes," Link was saying eagerly. "Chocolate ones."

"Ooh," Zelda cooed. "I second that."

Samus grinned. "And fries."

"But of course—OOH! And Big Macs!"

"Nuggets!"

"Double Cheeseburgers!"

"Mcflurries!"

"Two of everything!"

"Dude, _three_ of everything."

"Five!"

"What happened to your hair, Prince?" a new—and at the same time horribly old—voice rang out. "Did you run into a weed-whacker?"

"No," Marth sighed, turning around to face Genevieve, who had slunk out from the back of the restaurant and was standing just behind the counter, arms crossed over a sauce-spattered apron. "If you must know, I ran into the biggest spider-web in existence. It's lovely to see you too." He grinned dazzlingly at the red-haired woman, and she scowled. Link noticed that her normally shiny curls were a little dampened by grease and worse and were slicked down in an oily tangle behind her shoulders.

Genevieve scowled. "Why are you here? You want to screw things up even more than they already are?"

Quincy, enthused by Marth's nonchalance, bobbed up to the counter and smiled warmly at the person who had tried to take away everything that he cared about. "Not really," he said. "I just want a hamburger."

Genevieve smiled right back at him. "You probably want a Happy Meal, don't you, little boy?"

"Thanks for the offer," Quincy laughed, "But I really just want a hamburger. And a soda."

"Say please," she hissed.

"How about no?" he snapped back, his smile disappearing as his eyes flashed.

The unfortunate kid who had been originally assigned to the cash register looked confused. "D-did you want to take over, Genevieve?" he asked meekly.

Genevieve practically elbowed the poor boy out of the way, all while keeping a sick smile fixated on her face.

"It's good to see you got another job," Link said mildly. "I would've thought you would have had hard time finding one after the Brawl catastrophe."

That obviously struck a nerve. Genevieve's face hardened and she sneered, "And I suppose you were kissing Prince Marth when the two of you ran into that weed-whacker."

Roy shot Marth a startled look as Ike and Zelda grabbed Link's arms to stop him from leaping over the counter to tackle the red-haired woman. Marth just shook his head subtly, telling Roy to ask again later.

"Look, witch," Sheik spat, shouldering Link out of the way so she could glare at Genevieve over the cash register, Sheik's red eyes locking into Genevieve's green ones and making it hard for the latter to look away. "We're here for food, get it? Are you going to give us some, or are you just going to sit there and trade insults?"

"What would you like?" Genevieve asked smoothly, re-curling some of her lank hair around her index finger. "I see you and Ike are still an item—even though you know you could do much better."

Link and Ike reversed positions, with Link struggling to hold the heavier man back and eventually requiring Roy's assistance (although Roy's face had colored as well at the last remark).

Quincy yawned and tapped the counter impatiently. "Where's my hamburger? I'm hungry."

Marth slung a friendly arm around Sheik's shoulder as she opened her mouth to say something vicious, cutting off her remark as he perused the bulletin board that displayed the menu. "Jeez, it's been awhile since I've been here. I'd like a Big Mac with medium fries, if you please. And one of those Mcflurry things."

Genevieve was practically steaming under her artificially cheery visor that went with her uniform as she punched in the order.

"You next," Marth prompted Sheik, stepping away from the counter and smiling boyishly again at Genevieve as he ushered a quietly protesting Pit into line behind Ike and Roy.

Sheik managed to order without major incident, as did Ike (but only because he ignored Genevieve's subtle 'slow' jibe), and Roy got engaged in a brief insult-war and eventually Link got frustrated and grabbed a handful of Roy's T-shirt to tug him away.

Pit shuffled up to the counter, all determination gone as he mumbled that he wanted a large fries and a McFlurry.

"And a punch," Marth cut in. "Don't forget the punch."

Pit's eyes got huge and he whirled around to look at Marth, his face terrified. Marth leaned against a table innocently, watching the scene unfold as only a tactician could do.

"So you want to hit me?" Genevieve breathed, her voice dangerously calm. "Is that it, little angel? Why?"

Pit started to stammer something, but she continued anyway. "Is it because I_ broke_ you?" she asked slowly, enunciating every syllable. Despite the surroundings, she suddenly became just as intimidating as she had been back in Brawl, when she almost literally held everyone in a life-and-death situation. "And you think that by breaking me, you'll be able to put yourself back together again? Look, kiddo, it doesn't work that way. You can't fix something that's been broken. And that's all you are, Angel; broken. Just like me."

"Marth!" Quincy snapped from across the room, yanking angrily on Marth's cotton T-shirt sleeve. "Why'd you do that? You're such an idiot! Go help him!"

"Shh," Marth said, clamping a hand over Quincy's mouth and jerking the kid against his chest as the pokemon trainer instinctively tried to struggle. "Just watch. He has to do this."

"Oh, he _'has to do this,'_" Genevieve mimicked, her voice growing shriller by the moment. "Yes, let the angel try to hit me! See if he can do it! Angels don't hurt, Pit! Look at yourself—you hurt people every day! You are not worthy!"

"Sto—" Samus tried to intervene, taking a step in Pit's direction.

The angel's head was bowed as he accepted the words that Genevieve flung at him, his hands clenched in a pair of nylon shorts that had once belonged to Link and were so huge on Pit that he had to wrench at the drawstrings to get them tight enough.

"I don't know why you even try!" she screamed at one point, then flung her head up like an animal to glare at the assembled teenagers clogging up the small lobby area. "I don't know why _any_ of you try! You're all just a bunch of war-scarred _kids!_ You have _no_ idea what the world outside of war is—all you know is how to fight—how to _kill! _You have _no_ idea how to _love,_ or to _save,_ and yet you DARE to call yourselves _HEROES!_"

"That's not true," Pit whispered.

"YES IT IS!" Genevieve raged, loosing whatever control she had gained since her animalistic meltdown almost a month ago. "You're all so _stupid!_ You think you're protecting something, but you're all wrong! You destroy everything you touch! I HATE YOU ALL! You're animals! You cannot resolve things without violence! I HATE YOU!"

In the back of the room, the ashy-blonde employee subtly dialed 911 on the company phone, alarmed by the fit his co-worker was having.

"No," Pit said, a little more forcefully this time as he lifted his head to fix his tormentor with a deep stare. "_You're _the one who's wrong, Genevieve," he said, his voice calm and yet forceful at the same time. "_You're _the one who's trying desperately to protect the wrong thing. _You're_ the one who destroys. _You're_ the one who knows nothing of the world. _You're_ the stupid one. _You're _the child. _And I've outgrown you._ You're no longer worth my time, so could you please hurry up with my fries?"

Everyone, who had been hanging onto Pit's every word up to that point, blinked in unison at his last sentence.

The McDonalds boy with freckles stuck his head out from behind a machine and was relieved to see that the shouting had stopped.

"Hey," Marth called to him, calm-as-can-be, "What's taking so long?"

The kid flinched, and then scurried back to his machines to start making hamburgers.

Samus shot Marth a look, her blonde hair flying around her face. "You planned that, didn't you?"

He shrugged, and then leaned over her and gently brushed her hair out of her eyes with the back of his hand. "Sort of. I just wanted Pit to get better, that's all. I honestly had no idea how things were going to work out."

"You're a terrible person," she accused.

"And you know you love it," he said evenly, and then tucked a finger underneath her chin, tilting her head up so he could kiss her.

"PDA!" Pit whirled around to holler, suddenly returned to his usual, smiling self. Genevieve looked mildly disgusted.

"Hey," Link said to her. "Could we get, like, four chocolate milkshakes and three large fries and two double cheeseburgers to supplement what we already have, or would that be too much for you to handle?"

"Pigs," Genevieve couldn't resist saying as she snatched the Nintendo-provided credit card that the Hylian handed her.

"Oink," Link answered with a sarcastic wink as he took the card back as well as two of the seven bags that had suddenly appeared courtesy of the hard-working boy in the back. Marth and Quincy quickly snatched up the other five.

The dull wail of a police siren started to be audible in the distance.

"Time to go," Marth said mildly. "Wouldn't want another repeat of the Dairy Queen incident, would we?"

Link and Roy dissolved into giggles, Link nearly dropping the stuffed back he was holding.

"See you," Pit called to Genevieve as he ran out the door. "Or not."

The angel let the door bang shut and raced across the parking lot to the Honda and dove into its trunk, feeling as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

The car lurched backwards with a weird grinding sound, and then Ike remembered to shift gears and the engine caught properly. Fry containers were passed around, shake straws were accidentally shared as it became difficult to tell whose shake was whose, blows were exchanged over chicken McNuggets, but everyone was satisfied.

Marth punched the air at one point with his Big Mac. "Bu dum bumba baa!" he called.

"_I'm lovin' it!_" everyone else chorused back.

**AN: My chapters keep getting longer...(Is that a good thing or a bad thing?)**

**About Link's accent: I was reading my favorite book series of all time and one of the characters is described as having a "borderland accent" (as opposed to the King's court accent) because he grew up in the farmland/countryside, and so I thought, what the heck—Link could have one of those. XD Sorry, I just wrote that part to appease my inner fangirl. **

**Anyway, Genevieve is officially gone now. All is well. I've been thinking about starting another arc, but the only plans I have are for an "Assassin" arc idea I had awhile ago, and I don't know if you guys want another dark-ish arc after the whole Genevieve issue…**

**Basically, if you have an idea for an arc, let me know. XD Otherwise I'll just keep writing one-shots until I come up with something else. :) Or maybe I'll broaden my "Truth-Or-Dare" chapter into a two-three chapter arc….We'll see. Either way, there will be a delay on the next chapter because this week is my Confirmation and I have an essay to write. My apologies in advance. **

**Please review!**


	29. Chapter 29: All Nighter pt 1

**Wow, apologies for the delay (this was one of my longer ones, wasn't it?). I got swamped with projects, but I think it's all cleared up now. :)**

**Thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; I laughed so hard at the link. XD It was priceless. That and I might steal your Zelda/Sheik fusing back together idea; Then we'd have three guys lusting after the same girl. XD ~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; hopefully Pit'll get his girlfriend soon. :) ~ Thanks to **_**MEAM-neko n.n**_**; I think he was too busy trying to resist the urge to fly around in The Brink. XD ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; Man, I always misspell her name. Thank goodness for spell check! ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Yes, I probably should have dragged Genevieve's character out a bit, but I was sort of getting sick of writing her monologues. ;_; Thanks though! ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; Oh yes, the PDA thing is coming back, in a horrible ironic way. XD I was actually planning to do a ghost-busters spoof at some point, so we'll see what pops up. XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**soraroxas365**_**; I'm glad you think so. :) ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; yes, yes it was the point. :) There will be a dark-ish arc coming up, so keep your eyes open! ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Thank you so much! I'm trying to play Pit as more innocent than, say, General Ike, but I might reference to his army sometime. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; Maybe Genevieve will go bald too. XD I think McD's should offer shamrock shakes year round. ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Hooray for Calvin and Hobbes references! I grew up reading those comics. XD I like your corn maze idea—I might use it later. ~ Thanks to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi**_**; O.o I LOVE the star wars idea. Rest assured that lightsabers will pop up sooner or later. XD ~ Thanks to_ Smasher. The_**_**-Keyblade-Bearer**_**; Genevieve is a hard name to spell, isn't it? Sort of like anemone (Finding Nemo references FTW!). ~ Thanks to **_**Pk Love Omega**_**; It shall grow back, no worries. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; I like writing a variety of things, but comedy probably one of my favorites. XD ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; The assassin arc will be the arc after this one, no worries. You'll have to wait and see who the assassin is though. ~ And a final thanks to **_**LadyWhitewolf**_**; I only recently discovered how fun it is to play as Ganondorf in Brawl. All of his moves look so awesome, but they're SO SLOW! It's a dilemma. XD Anyway, there will hopefully be some more development of the baddies in the next arc, and I like your birthday idea. XD Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: None of the SSBB stuff belongs to me, nor does Red Bull or Mountain Dew. BTW, if anyone reading writes/likes yaoi, I do not mean to offend you. I just enjoy creating awkward scenarios. (If you've read any other chapters in this fic then you already know that…No flames please.) Also BTW, I do not approve underage drinking. I was just rereading Chapter 17 and realized that I never passed another reference to the fact that Marth does not get drunk. You'll see what I mean. **

**Please read, enjoy, and review! **

**Chapter 29: All Nighter: Part 1**

It all actually started late that afternoon, when Pit and Quincy finally achieved what everyone else hoped was impossible.

They managed (nobody knew how) to get their hands on an entire six pack of Red Bull and proceeded to drink three cans each within an hour.

Needless to say, with approximately 240 milligrams of caffeine steadily working its way through their systems, they were still wide awake come bedtime.

As numerous clocks chimed 10PM, the Brawl complex was starting to wind down. 7-10 o'clock was considered free time, no brawls were ever scheduled then (unless it was a special occasion) and the brawlers usually used this time to relax or train.

That night, Link was shuffling down the hallway in his sweatpants after finishing up in a newly installed fitness center, a damp shirt slung over his shoulder. For once, he was actually thankful for his cropped hair because it didn't get as gross when he worked out anymore.

Marth—who was much slighter and yet had tried to keep up with Link on the weight lifting—was tripping dazedly down the hallway behind the Hylian and appeared unable to do much with his arms besides swing them lamely at his sides, and every movement brought a fresh flash of pain from his biceps.

"Dude," Link said as he reached one arm over his head to stretch and took in Marth's haggard appearance. "Never try to lift that much again, 'kay?"

"Understood," Marth panted, leaning shakily up against the wall, his own shirt slipping off of his shoulder and falling to the ground with a wet slap.

Samus, already dressed in her tank-top-and-short pajamas, stepped out into the hallway and caught sight of the doubled-over Marth and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with him?" she demanded of Link.

"He tried to lift too much in the gym," Link said matter-of-factly.

"Smooth."

Quincy barreled around a corner, still fully clothed, and Pit shot around the same corner, resorting to a barrel roll that resulted in one of his wings clipping the ceiling, but the alternative was spinning out of control into the wall. He managed to make the turn and whooped.

The pokemon trainer came to a stumbling stop next to the older three Brawlers in the hallway. "What's up? Is he okay?"

"I'm fine!" Marth insisted, straightening up with an ominous crack from his back. "Seriously, I'm fine. I just need a warm shower, and then I'm going to bed."

"Awww…." Pit complained, pulling up to hover over Samus. "We were hoping you'd hang out with us tonight."

"Not tonight," Marth declined.

"Come on," Quincy pleaded. "At least reconsider after you take a shower."

"And after you put a shirt on," Samus inserted, giving Marth an appreciative once-over.

Marth summoned enough energy to smirk, then stumbled into his bedroom, shutting the door quietly.

"Come out when you're done!" Pit demanded, bouncing a little in his caffeine-induced excitement.

Marth slurred something from his bathroom about 'maybe,' and then he turned on the shower and they couldn't hear anything else.

"I'm going to go grab everyone else," Quincy babbled. "You're going to stay up, right Samus? Right Link?"

"Sure, kid," Link nodded. "I don't have anything better to do tonight. I'm just going to change."

"And make sure Marth comes out too!" Pit shouted as he and Quincy ran off down the hallway to summon brawlers out into the common area.

"I'll make him come back out," Samus promised.

Link cracked a perverted smile. "How you gonna do that?"

Samus tested the door on Marth's bedroom to make sure he hadn't locked it, then twisted the knob and quietly swung the door open. "I have my ways.

Link pulled a face. "Just keep it PG-13, okay?"

"Gotcha," Samus nodded as she crept into Marth's room.

**xXx**

Twenty minutes later, a small crowd mostly consisting of teenagers had been amassed around a large, circular card table. Mostly clad in pajamas and barefooted, they lounged lazily in beanbag chairs and straight-back chairs alike. The only ones who were fully alert was Quincy and Pit, who were still so hyped up that they were racing each other around the table, and Snake, who was never _not_ alert and standing up against the wall in his usual casual attire of loose sweatpants and a long-sleeve black shirt, looking like he couldn't believe he had been dragged out of his bedroom for this stupidity.

A slightly-dampened Marth had his feet up on the table and a towel wrapped around his shoulders and was doing his best to ignore Link's persistent questions about what exactly Samus had done to drag him out of bed and into the rec room.

"Hey," Ike called out sleepily to Pit and Quincy, who both screeched comically to a halt and almost knocked each other over. "What are we doing? If we're just going to sit around, I'm going to go to bed."

"Goodnight," Snake said pointedly, slinking back down the hallway. Samus turned to watch him go, but no one else really noticed. When all was said and done, Snake had become something like an anti-social mentor to most of the teenagers. He taught Link and Marth wrestling moves when they asked, and he was Samus' usual chess partner, but most of the time he stuck to himself.

"We're doing something!" Quincy said indignantly. "We're totally doing something!"

"Like what?" Roy asked around a huge yawn.

"Like….Truth or Dare!" Pit brainstormed.

"_NO!_" Link, Marth, and Roy all cried at the same time.

Pit blinked. "Ookaaay….What about Never Have I Ever?"

"Isn't that a drinking game?" Ike mumbled through his hands, which were propped up on the table and covering half of his face.

"It doesn't have to be," Roy shook his head.

"So are we playing?" Quincy asked eagerly.

"Sure," Marth said resignedly. "But we're not drinking, okay?"

Sheik reached over and plunked a large bottle of Mountain Dew pulled out of who-knows-where onto the table. "Of course we are," she said. "It's no fun without drinking."

Everyone looked around nervously as Pit and Quincy finally sat down next to each other, wondering who would start.

"I got this," Link finally said with a grin as he cracked his knuckles. "Never have I ever worn a string bikini."

Zelda and Samus reached for the bottle and each took a swig. Samus sarcastically offered the bottle to Marth. The Altean scowled at her, but she just shrugged and set the soda back in the center of the table.

"My turn," she said. "Never have I ever fallen off of a horse."

"Lame," Roy said as he, Ike, Marth, and Link all reached out for the bottle.

After Roy had taken the last drink, he announced, "Never have I ever stolen someone else's girlfriend," with a meaningful glance in Ike's direction.

There was an awkward silence, and then Marth and Ike reluctantly took another drink.

"You too?" Pit asked Marth, his eyes widening.

Marth shrugged, a mischievous glint in his eye as he shoved the soda back into the center of the table. "Never have I ever taught a girl how to Gallian dance."

"You suck," Ike complained as he reached out for his third drink. "Never have I ever kissed Marth."

"HEY!" Marth complained, his eyes flashing as his face reddened. Samus reached out and Link pretended to, but then Marth reached over to slap his hand away. The Hylian retreated back to his chair, grinning playfully.

"Never have I ever had yaoi fangirls pairing me up," Samus suggested.

With an unanimous sigh, all of the boys at the table started passing the soda around. Even Quincy and Pit each took a sip.

"Seriously?" Zelda asked the two of them. "Who?"

Quincy winced. "Other Pokemon guys, mostly. It's not as common as Marth pairings though."

Marth acknowledged his misfortunes with a nod.

Everyone turned to look at Pit curiously as the angel sank embarrassedly into his seat, his face bright red.

"Who?" Link asked nervously, wracking his brain for any Kid Icarus pairings that could have cropped up.

"Ike," Pit admitted.

The table exploded into amazed laughter, and now Ike was the one hunched over in his chair. "Never have I ever actually done anything with the people I get paired with!" he snapped. No one reached for the soda.

"Never have I ever been in love," Pit said quietly.

Almost everyone but him, including Quincy, took a drink.

"Never have I ever killed," Zelda said quietly.

Marth, Link, Samus, Sheik, Ike, and Roy all reached solemnly for the bottle.

"Never have I ever lost my father," Roy said hoarsely.

Marth and Ike, both with carefully blank expressions, sipped from Mountain Dew.

"Never have I ever stopped missing those who were taken from me," Marth whispered.

No one reached out.

"Aren't we a screwed up bunch?" Link remarked into the heavy silence.

Pit, sullen for once, kept his eyes on the tabletop as he said, "Maybe Genevieve is right about all of us. Maybe we are all just violent kids who don't know how to do anything but fight."

"That's not true," Ike and Marth said in unison, Marth's voice a bit shakier than Ike's. Samus quietly interlaced her fingers into his and squeezed his hand reassuringly. Link reached over to clap Ike's shoulder. Both of the Fire Emblem men offered up weak smiles, and then retreated back into recovering silence.

"Look," Roy said, surprising everyone because he usually didn't offer up opinions on moral grounds (especially considering how he had behaved during Genevieve's short reign). "Do you think we'd all still be here if we weren't capable of anything but violence? Do you think we'd be able to have fun like this, if we were incapable of love? Do you honestly think that we would be where we are today, if we didn't know how to deal with peace as much as we could successfully play war?"

Pit smiled softly. "Never have I ever thought about it like that," he chuckled.

There was a small amount of laughter as Link and Zelda both reached out for the bottle. At Samus' raised eyebrow, Link explained, "We talked about this sort of thing a lot."

"Never have I ever tripped during a royal ceremony," Zelda said offhandedly.

Marth grinned, returning to himself as he toasted Zelda with the half-empty soda. "My first one. I was scared out of my wits. Fell all the way down the chapel stairs smacked my head at the bottom; my fath—" He smiled sadly as he started to twist the bottle's cap back on. "My father was furious."

"I did that too!" Link enthused. "But I wasn't as young as you when I went to my first ceremony."

"Of course you weren't," Marth teased, throwing the cap at the Hylian's head. "You were an impoverished little farm-boy who herded goats."

Link smacked the cap out of the air before it happened and accepted the jibe, just glad to help lighten the tension. It was worth a few wisecracks to have everyone back to normal.

"I've tripped in all sorts of bad ways too," Quincy stuck in. "When I first got Squirtle, I hadn't walked two steps before falling over from nerves." Everyone laughed. Ike related a quick story of the first time he tried to lift up his father's sword and had nearly cut off his foot. Pit told of several spectacular failures when he was learning how to fly. Roy chipped in with a yarn of the first time he had ridden a pony. In the end, everyone was sprawled across their chairs, laughing heartily as the atmosphere swelled.

"Jeez, I love this place," Link sighed contentedly, brushing his cropped bangs out of his eyes.

Quincy checked his watch. "It's going on eleven-thirty, guys. What do you want to do? Call it a night?"

"I guess I'm game to stay up if everyone else is," Marth shrugged.

"I'm in," Samus nodded. "But I think we might need another soda if we're going to keep playing this game." She sloshed the contents of the bottle around thoughtfully, creating a small fizz.

"Ah, what the heck," Roy said resignedly. "Let's play Truth or Dare."

"Really?" Pit and Quincy yelped, sitting up a little straighter.

"Sure, why not," Marth rolled his eyes. "If we're going to make idiots of ourselves, we might as well go all the way."

"I'll pick dare if you do too," Link challenged him.

"You're on."

Ike, who was starting to feel tired, said, "We might want to get some caffeinated drinks or something if we're going to stay up all night."

"Red Bull?" Pit suggested innocently.

"No," Sheik said hurriedly. "You'll probably die of caffeine overdose if you drink another one of those. I have some more Mountain Dew in my bedroom if that'll work."

"I have some Altean wine that I've been saving," Marth stuck in quietly. Ike and Roy, who both knew to regard Altean wine with the same attitude others might regard gold and silver with, both whirled around.

"Only for those who are allowed to drink in their native worlds, of course," the prince continued quickly. "But it's aged. Supposedly it's pretty nice."

"_'Pretty nice?'_" Ike and Roy mimicked incredulously, Ike continuing vehemently with, "Jeez, I always knew you were spoiled, but never _that_ spoiled."

"It's not like I opened it, so how would I know?" Marth said hotly as he stood up. "You can be the judge of that, if you like. I'll go get it."

"And I'll go get that soda for the ones who can't drink yet," Sheik said. "But I'd personally like to taste what Ike's making such a big fuss about, if that's alright."

As Marth and Sheik struck out for the bedrooms, Link produced a deck of cards from a pocket on his sweatpants and started dealing out for a quick game of Blackjack. Quincy and Pit high-fived each other and congratulated themselves on starting something that even the older kids could appreciate.

**X**

Meanwhile, Snake groaned and reached up to his nightstand for his earplugs as loud laughter could be heard through his door, pulling a heavier blanket over his head and wishing the stupid kids would just calm down and go to bed.

**AN: It just occured to me that that's twice now that Marth's been interrupted in the shower...And Ike/Pit pairings apparently do exist, although I had never heard of it before today (but maybe I'm just naive). I also watched the (lame-ish) Fire Emblem anime recently and couldn't resist making a reference to Marth's relationship with his late father. It turned out okay, right?**

** Aahh…poor Snake. He probably has some high-quality earplugs though, so I think he'll be fine. XD This is just going to be a two-shot arc, immediately followed by my anticipated Assassin Arc (unless I decide to squeeze one more one-shot in-between), which will be longer and darker. **

**I really like writing this type of chapter—starts out as a total fluff-fest and maybe gets a little deeper as it goes on. :) I'm making sure that the Assassin Arc doesn't get quite as dark as the Divide, because I think some people got a bit sick of it all towards the end…So there will be much wise-cracking throughout, as is my style.**

**But anyway, the actual truth-or-dare doesn't start until next chapter (and you will see why the guys were so reluctant to play in the beginning). T'will be epicness. *insert evil laughter here***

**(BTW, Ike doesn't really get drunk either, but Roy might, depending on what I feel like writing tomorrow. *insert an evil laugh here as well*)**

**Please review! **


	30. Chapter 30: All Nighter pt 2

**300 REVIEWS! (and I repay you guys with my longest hiatus yet. Am I a terrible person or what? ;_; I'm sorry.)**

**First thanks to **_**Sir StarlIl**_**; Your review made me laugh—it's always cool to know that my fics appeal to both genders. XD I tried to keep this from becoming a chic flick, so I guess I did a decent job, right (or not…?). AwEsome Artemis Fowl metaphor. ;) ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Why thank you. *bows* I eagerly await your chapter request. ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; oi vey—very sorry about the lag on this chapter. Finals are a pain. ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; Um, yeah. That actually happened to me with Mountain Dew up in a cabin a few years ago. My only memories are being whacked by a blind guy's cane. ;_; Oh yes, Roy gets drunk very easily. The boy has no tolerance. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Y'know, the only person they didn't butcher in that whole anime was Julian, in my opinion. XD They SHOULD totally have wine in Fire Emblem. Thanks for all the compliments! ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; Um…random question that makes me sound like a noob; what's a ToD? I keep seeing that term and I honestly have no idea what it means. ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; I kept it T-rated, no worries. XD (can you tell me what a ToD is? D:?) ~ Thanks to **_**Pk Love Omega**_**; Yes, I have fond memories of those games too. Ironically, I learned how to play all those drinking games as well as how to gamble through my church youth group. XD ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Um…I'm leaving the whole Samus/Marth bedroom scenario up to your imagination. What I imagined was NOT PG-13. XD ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; I hope I live up to your expectations! ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Oh yes, there will be much more humor in the Assassin Arc. Never let Quincy or Pit near caffeine. ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Finals have pretty much fried my brain, so I'm not sure how good this chapter is…hope you enjoy! ~ Thanks to **_**MEAM-neko n.n**_**; Thank you so much! :3 *ego stroking* My goodness, my head has swelled so much from reading all these reviews. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Hopefully he'll make a cameo appearance or something. XD And yes, I did watch an anime based off a video game (and it turned out to be a mistake—don't do it). ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; They're all technically underage…XD Ezio might pop up in the next arc. ~ Thanks to **_**soraroxas365**_**; Marth is wonderful, isn't he? XD ~ Thanks to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi**_**; There will be Star Wars quotes galore, I promise. XD ~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; I'm glad you enjoy. XD I have fun writing it. ~ Thanks to newcomer **_**Get Money**_**; I'm not sure if you made it up to this chapter, but thanks for reviewing! :) ~ And a final thanks to an unknown **_**anon **_**(?); Behold, here it is! :3**

**Disclaimer: No SSBM/SSBB characters belong to me. I also do not support underage drinking outside of a nonprofit fictional scenario, or antagonizing people who are bigger than you when you're drunk (you'll see what I mean), or succumbing to peer pressure (Shame on Ike). Also, I confess that my brain is completely fried, so this chapter might not seem up to par. I apologize. I tried to keep it T-rated. :) **

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 30: All Nighter: Part 2**

Marth returned a few minutes later, brandishing a large bottle that sloshed with a deep, blood-red liquid as well as several glass flutes. Sheik leapt agilely over the back of her chair and sent a six-pack of Mountain Dew skidding across the table.

"Thanks Sheik," Quincy grinned as he popped the tab on his soda.

Sheik smiled, and then held her hand out to accept the glass that Marth passed to her. Samus and Roy already had glasses, and Ike and Link both had their hands held out. Marth was a gentleman and poured a glass for Zelda before he attended to them, but eventually everyone had something to drink.

Ike sighed deeply as he swirled the contents of his goblet around. "That's good stuff," he said to Marth.

"Far cry from the Gallian ale, right?" Marth teased, taking a sip from his own glass and then setting it to the side where he wouldn't knock it over. Ike nodded happily and immediately knocked back the entire glass, causing the entire table to pause and look at him.

He set his empty glass down and rolled his eyes. "What? I can drink. Leave me alone."

Marth blinked, and then grinned. "…Would you like some more?"

"This is actually really good," Samus admitted. Everyone except for Quincy and Pit agreed. Roy offered to let them each try a small sip of his wine, and they both accepted, but both decided that they didn't like wine as much as they thought they would and didn't ask for seconds.

"So," Link said briskly, trying to remember a Hylian trick for clearing the light, wine-induced fog from his head. "Truth Or Dare. Who's going first?"

"Me!" called Quincy. "Pit, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Pit said calmly.

Quincy frowned, uncharacteristically serious given how much caffeine he had had in the last twelve hours. "Are you really okay?"

Pit blanched. "I…I—" His voice trailed off to a whisper. "Why would you ask that?"

"Just, after everything that happened," Quincy breathed. "You seemed so scared, so I just wanted to make sure that you're really alright."

The angel swallowed, his gaze dropping to the tabletop. "I think I'm fine, Quince. I feel fine, usually. Really. I don't deserve you guys worrying about me, but I'm fine." He lifted his head defiantly to look at his friend. "Do you think that if I wasn't alright, I wouldn't let you know, Quincy?"

Quincy beamed, an invisible weight disappearing from his shoulders. "Thanks, Pit."

"Your turn," Roy pointed out to the angel.

"Roy, truth or dare?" Pit asked.

"Dare."

Pit thought about it, then grinned evilly. "Drink another glass of wine, right now. All at once."

"Easy," Roy quipped, holding out his glass for Marth to refill it. He threw it back, stifled a hoarse cough, but looked none the worse afterwards. "Sheik, truth or dare?"

Sheik winced, guessing what Roy's question would be if she answered truth. "Dare."

Roy smirked. "Kiss me."

The entire table froze, Ike's eyes flaring with an internal fire as he threw his arm across, stopping Sheik from getting up. "Absolutely not," he growled.

"Ike, it's fine," Sheik said gently, slipping out from underneath his protective arm. "It's part of the game." She walked over to Roy and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and then quickly shuffled back to her chair. Nobody said anything, although Marth in particular was starting to regret giving Roy alcohol.

"Marth, truth or dare?" Sheik called, jolting him out of his thoughts.

Marth caught Link's eye. "Truth."

"You promised you'd do dare!" the Hylian shouted.

"I said _'maybe!'_" Marth snapped back, taking an angry gulp from his wineglass. "And besides, the last time we played truth or dare, I ended up completely wasted and wearing a dress!"

Everyone except for Marth laughed, and he endured it all with an expressionless face. "I said truth, Sheik. What is it?"

She thought about it. "Are you in a relationship with a different girl back in Altea?"

Marth contemplated his answer carefully as Samus tried not to glower at him. She had heard rumors that he was betrothed, but since their relationship had grown she had never gotten up the courage to ask him directly about it.

"…It is expected that I will marry a princess," the Altean prince said softly. "So that the Lowell line remains pure. And it has also been decided that I will marry the princess of Talys. However, no date is set, and I haven't even officially asked her yet. To be honest, we're more friends than lovers. She was my comforter during a rough point in my life, and I believe that she has feelings for me, but…At this point everything is officially still left open. I believe that answers your question."

Samus bowed her head, wondering if his statement had changed anything. She supposed she had always known that there was another girl. He couldn't be expected to get into a serious relationship with a bounty hunter, and who was to say that their relationship was serious anyway? Despite all that, she couldn't help feeling a little sad…and a little hopeful.

"Sam," Marth said. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," she whispered, not wanting to have to admit something ridiculous while she was in such an unsteady emotional state. Stupid wine.

He thought about it, tracing a finger around the lip of his wine glass. "Your feet can't touch the ground for the rest of the night."

"Challenge accepted," she said easily, grateful that he hadn't pulled a Roy as she tucked her bare feet under her legs on the chair. "Zelda, truth or dare?"

Zelda twirled one of her tightly coiled braids around her finger. "Truth. Marth, may I have some more wine?"

As the Altean refilled, Samus thought of a good truth. "Were you ever betrothed?"

"No," Zelda said firmly, not volunteering any other information. "Ike, truth or dare?"

"Crud—dare," he said, throwing back what must have been his third or fourth glass.

Zelda interlaced her fingers calmly, a slightly evil smile on her face. "Go ding-dong-ditch Ganondorf's room."

"YES!" Link crowed. "_Finally_ a good dare!" He dropped a quick kiss on top of Zelda's head.

"…I think I need another drink."

Marth squinted into the bottle. "No you don't. It's not even one yet and we're already halfway through this thing. Just get it over with."

Ike shoved off from the table and adopted a Snake-esque way of moving as he crept down the hallway.

Roy laughed tipsily. "Ike's gonna die."

There was a loud BANG from the hallway, presumably as Ike struck Ganondorf's door with something (from the sound of it, either his shoulder or his knee), and then he came sprinting back into the room and vaulted over Link's chair with surprising agility for someone who had to be at least mildly drunk, landing soundly in his own chair as everyone else worked hard to stifle their laughter. There was a second bang, not quite as loud, as Ganondorf slammed his door open.

Ike cringed, scrunching his shoulders in his seat a little. Marth and Link were shaking silently in their chairs, Quincy looked a bit scared, and everyone else quickly assumed expressions of innocence as loud footsteps indicated Ganondorf's process down the hallway.

He clomped into the rec room, his eyes flashing malignantly as he glowered at the assembled group.

"Morning," Marth said chirpily, holding up the wine bottle. "Would you like to join us?"

The massive hulk of a man eyed the bottle curiously. "No thank you," he finally said gruffly. "My argument isn't with you, for once."

Marth grinned drunkenly, propping his feet up on the table. "I could change that _real_ fast," he drawled.

"Try me, whelp. My patience is already stretched thin."

"_'Whelp,'_" the Altean said thoughtfully, rolling the word around in his mouth as if he was appreciating its taste. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been called that before."

"As I said, my argument is not with you tonight," Ganondorf said peevishly. "It's with _him._" He spun around and thrust a thick finger in Ike's direction. Ike made a surprisingly unmanly noise in the back of his throat that flashed Sheik back to an incident at The Brink where he had made the same hamster-ish sound.

"Not my fault," Ike said quietly.

"Then whose, pray tell, was it?" Ganondorf hissed, his huge hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.

Marth leapt back into the argument before Ike could drunkenly cause Ganondorf's anger to shift from the biggest person currently at the table to one of the slightest, leaning across the table as he said, "Hey, Ganondork, the whelp wants to talk to you."

"Stay out of it, hero."

Marth met Ike's eyes across the table. "Ganondork, we were playing truth or dare just now. Maybe you want to join in," he said, his voice surprisingly steady given how much of the bottle he had consumed on his lonesome. "Truth or dare?"

"As if I'd participate in such a childish pastime. That's the problem with you kids—you're never thinking big," the huge man said, his voice dangerously low. Link recognized the tone and started to stand up protectively over Zelda, his hand thrown out in Sheik's direction.

"Stand down, hero!" Ganondorf barked, whirling in Link's direction, any self-control the man had blunted by sleep and annoyance.

"I dare you to catch me," Ike said quietly, picking up on Marth's attempts to funnel Ganondorf's anger into something relatively safe.

Ganondorf turned around again, looking confused as to who deserved to face his wrath the most. "You're challenging me?"

"It's not really a challenge at all, really," the Gallian replied, slurring his words a little to feign tipsiness even though he was still mostly in control. "I mean, you _are_ the slowest one here. I could outrun you easy."

Marth made eye contact with Samus, who had just opened her mouth to say something scathing, and shook his head. Slowly, she realized that Ike's seemingly suicidal jeering was a form of baiting and settled back down into her chair.

"You've got three seconds, boy," Ganondorf spat, glaring fiercely at Ike with glowing eyes. Ike wasn't stupid enough not to recognize a head start when he was given one and immediately bolted from the room, streaking down the hallways faster than anyone had ever seen him run.

"Wow," Roy laughed, his brain fuddled by the rich wine. "He can really book it when he wants to."

Ganondorf sneered as he knelt into a somewhat-stiff running stance. He shot a final burning glare over his shoulder at Link, who was still standing over Zelda, and then to Marth, who was lounging in his chair with a bemused look on his face.

"Woe to anyone who is still in this room once I finish with the boy," the man whispered, and then took off after Ike at a brisk jog.

"Right," Marth said briskly as soon as Ganondorf rounded a corner. "Let's continue this in my room, shall we? Not that Ganondork's a particularly trustworthy person, but I think he was telling the truth just now."

Quincy and Pit, who had been mostly frozen through the entire encounter, unfroze immediately to smile bashfully up at him.

"I think we're going to go over to Quince's room," Pit said. "He's got a new videogame…Plus, I don't think we're quite old enough for this."

"Oh, that's cool," Marth said approvingly. "Off you go then. And I would lock your door if I were you, just to be safe," he finished with a wink. The two younger kids slipped from their chairs and crept down the hallway, finally sprinting into Quincy's bedroom and slamming the door behind them.

Link looked at Marth nervously. "You think Ike'll be okay?"

"He'll be fine," the Altean nodded as he stood up, realized that he was drunker than he thought, and sank back down again dizzily. "It's not like Ganondork's going to kill him or anything."

Sheik looked concerned as she stood up wobbily. "I think we should go help," she said haltingly.

"Don't think you'll be much help," Link rebuked gently, walking over to her side to grab her elbow as she swayed dangerously.

Marth suddenly swept Samus up in his arms, staggering off balance for a moment but somehow managing not to fall over.

Samus gasped and instinctively clung to his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"Have you forgotten?" Marth asked, wincing as something in his shoulder popped. "Roy, pick up the bottle, will you?"

"What?" Samus demanded as Roy eagerly scooped up the wine and bounded off towards Marth's room as Link and company followed behind.

"Your dare," Marth said, blowing some of Samus' blonde hair out of his face as she reached out to switch off the rec room light, plunging the hallway into darkness. There was a thump and a round of inebriated tittering, indicating that someone—probably Sheik—had fallen over.

"Your feet weren't allowed to touch the ground for the rest of the night, right?" Marth continued nonchalantly, stepping over a giggling Sheik and Zelda, who had somehow tripped as well.

"Well, no, but…" Samus said as Marth stepped into his bedroom and proceeded to set her down on the edge of his bed. Roy and Link were already inside, Link trying to pry the wine out of Roy's hands, arguing that they'd have to save some for Ike if he came back alive. Samus' face flushed bright red as Marth flung himself down next to her, throwing an arm across her shoulder to tug her down with him onto the bedcovers.

"Time out!" Link hollered as Sheik and Zelda finally staggered in. The Hylian gestured at Marth and Samus. "PG-13, you promised!"

"Please," Marth said patronizingly. "We weren't doing anything. We're just lying on a bed. Roy, pass me the wine. Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Roy said lightly. "But don't give me a dare like Ike's."

Marth smirked. "That sounds like a challenge. Um…Agh, I don't have anything. Turn your socks inside out or something."

Before Roy could perform the pathetic dare, the bedroom door suddenly smashed open and a sweat-soaked and bleeding Ike threw himself inside, crashing to his hands and knees.

"CLOSE IT CLOSE IT! HE'S RIGHT BEHIND ME!" he yelped, and Link threw himself against the door and flicked the thumb-turn lock. Sheik made room for him to sit and grabbed at his face, inspecting a red-smeared cut on his cheek.

Ike managed to grin, and then hung his head between his knees, gasping for breath.

"You okay?" Marth asked worriedly. "If you're going to heave, there's a garbage can over there…"

"I'm fine," Ike said at length. "Just tired." Sheik was still looking at him with concern, so he continued with, "It's alright; he just winged me." He rubbed at the scrape on his face. "He just got lucky. Dang, I haven't run that fast in ages." He shot a haggard look in Zelda's direction. "I think I hate you," he told her.

Zelda steepled her fingers. "You're just jealous you didn't think of that dare yourself."

Roy held out his hand for a high-five. "Man, I thought you were going to die," he chuckled.

"Wouldn't that make your day?" Ike retorted raspily and accepted the nearly empty bottle that Link passed him, draining it to its bitter dregs. "Right, what'd I miss?"

"It's Roy's turn," Samus supplied.

"Cool," Ike nodded. "Play on."

**xXx**

Link was the first to wake up. He lifted his head groggily from the floor and squinted into the noon sun streaming through Marth's bedroom window, his hair rumpled and his clothes incredibly wrinkled. He tried to stand, but was overwhelmed by such a strong headache that he sank back to his knees, biting back a small cry.

When the pounding in his head ceased, he cracked his eyelids open cautiously, wincing as the bright light stabbed at his pupils and made his stomach flip nauseously. Shielding his eyes, he looked over at Marth's wreck of a room, wondering how much of the mess had been caused last night.

Ike was sprawled out unconscious by the door, a crusty scab on his face. Sheik was lying peacefully on her back, one of her arms thrown across Ike's chest and one of her legs thrown over Zelda's knees. Roy was passed out on his side next to the garbage can, which reeked with a vile, bodily scent that left Link with little doubt as to what was inside. Zelda was asleep on her stomach, using one of her arms as a cushion of sorts. She had fallen asleep with a slight smile on her face and still wore it now. Marth and Samus were still lying horizontally across the bed, Marth lying spread-eagled with Samus curled up against his side, her long blonde hair strewn out behind her.

Link moaned as he crawled laboriously over to Ike and started shaking his shoulder. "Hey, man, wake up." Even his whispered voice was enough to bring his headache back, but he persisted nonetheless, wanting someone else to suffer with him.

Ike came around and blinked lazily up at Link with glazed-over eyes.

"Who're you…?" he asked blearily.

"Oh jeez," Link groaned. "You don't remember who I am?"

Something clicked in the back of Ike's mind, and he doubled over suddenly, rolling into the wall as he clutched at his head and made a pained noise.

The noise was enough to wake Sheik and Zelda, who rose stiffly with grimaces and winces, both of them seeming unsteady on their feet. Link moved over to wake Roy, and then decided that the poor kid deserved a bit more rest and let him be, although Link did gingerly pick up the garbage can and quickly dumped its mostly-liquid contents down the toilet and stuck the can into the shower to be rinsed out later.

When he came back, Marth and Samus had woken up, Marth sprawled in the same position as before, staring sleepily up at the ceiling, while Samus had scooted as far away from him as possible, her face once again a furious red.

"Anybody know what time it is?" she whispered as quietly as she could, but everyone still shouted at her to shut up anyway, leading to more groans and wincing.

Marth tried to sit up, but fell back to his elbows with a gasp and had to sit up slowly to reach for the digital clock that had gotten knocked off of his dresser, squinting through the pain to read the swimming neon letters.

"Just going on eleven," he breathed. "We should probably go get some breakfast."

"Black coffee would help," Sheik suggested numbly, fumbling around with Marth's doorknob before fuzzily remembering that they had locked it.

"Hey, wait," Ike said, reaching out from his squatting position on the floor to snatch at a white piece of paper that had been shoved underneath Marth's door. What little color was left in his face drained out as he read it, and he sank back against the wall.

"What?" Link asked nervously.

Ike passed him the paper, and Link squinted at the blurry note, forcing the foggy letters to come into focus even though it made his head sting.

He read it out-loud, noticing that everyone conscious was looking at him curiously. "Unscheduled Match: Ike and Marth vs. Ganondorf as per request of the latter. Match will begin 11:15 am."

"We're dead," Ike said miserably. "We are so, so, so very dead."

"You thought you were dead last night too," Marth grumbled. "And behold; you live on." He stood up stiffly from the bed and stretched. "Does anyone know a fail-proof way to get rid of hangover in fifteen minutes?"

"Cold shower?" Zelda suggested, pulling wisps of hair into a loose ponytail behind her neck.

"Ten four," Marth sighed, shuffling towards the bathroom while pressing a hand to his forehead. "Someone get Roy out of here before he heaves all over the carpet, okay?"

"'Kay," Sheik said distantly. "Link, help me grab his shoulders. Ike, you go take a shower too. You only have fifteen minutes before your fight."

"Do I have to?" Ike whined, shying away as he opened the door and a bright bolt of light seared his eyes.

"Suck it up," Link advised.

"We got this," Marth called out from the bathroom, his voice echoing a little due to the tiles. "Don't worry."

**A/N: And so begins the Assassin Arc. Apologies for the terribly sucky ending. I've been writing this chapter on and off in-between working on my final English project, and frankly, I got a bit sick of it towards the end. ;_; I apologize. Also, due to writing the intense novella for English, my style has actually changed quite a bit (hopefully for the better), so I hope to start showcasing that a bit in the next chapter. :)**

**Please review! (Holy cow, I have so many reviewers! So awesome!) **

**That's all there is for today, folks. *goes off to sleep***

**P.S. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but if you're looking for some random Marth-y goodness, check out my one-shot **_**Disappointed**_**. That's what I mean when I say my style improved. :)**


	31. Chapter 31: The Assassin pt 1

**Woot! Assassin Arc! I promised not to make this one as dark, but this first chapter ended up a little depressing nonetheless. But rest assured that I have about half of the next one already written (see my AN at the end for info on that) and it's much better. Link and Roy get into an amusing argument about who's more manly. XD**

**In other announcements, **_**MessengerOfDream's**_** contest got a little behind, but that's going to be up and running soon, for anyone who's waiting on that. XD Sorry 'bout that.**

**Thanks to **_**Foxpliot**_**; Um…I need help on Shadow Dragon (I'm stuck on level 10). XD Aaand….Roy Roy Roy, that boy always fails. And yet, I love him. ~ Thanks to **_**LadyWhitewolf**_**; Well…kind of. XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; I love it when my stuff's at the top. ;) Yeah yeah…my delays are terrible, aren't they? ~ Thanks to **_**Pk Love Omega**_**; Ooh! Happy late birthday! ~ Thanks to **_**Mariko Midori**_**; Thanks! Behold your update! ~ SPECIAL thank you to **_**angel**_**; your requested OC pops up in this chapter (although she unfortunately doesn't quite fit the description you gave me, but she still shares your name!). I hope you enjoy! :) ~ Thanks to **_**Sir StarlIl**_**; Roy's often leaning towards the evil side of things. XD Yeah, hangovers do suck—NOT that I'd know anything either. ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; Yep, Marth gets removed from the spotlight in this chappie, no worries. XD I know I use my favorites too much. ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; I am alive! Please keep reminding me about that beam-sword chapter. I'll do that one right after this arc! ~ Thanks to **_**DrZombie**_**; That he is, I just like writing humans (sorry). ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; Um…I think that garbage can would've overflowed if Pit and Quince had stayed the whole night. XD Just sayin'. Glad you're out of school! ~ Thanks to **_**LinksPlaidTunic**_**; EPIC username, BTW. XD Love it. Thanks for reviewing! ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; indeed I do. This is epic. XD "Or your face…" LOL. That's an awesome line. XD Thanks again! ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Thank you! I'm so glad I got Ganondork right! ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; Um…it's a bit complicated. You'll see. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Andrijr**_**; Wish granted! Thanks for reviewing! ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; Yes, poor Ike. Thanks for reviewing! ~ And a final thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Looking back on it, my style hasn't changed as much as I thought now that I've wound down from my other project. Huh…Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**

**Hoooly cheeseheads do I have a bunch of reviewers! (Hershel-the-plot-bunny-who-has-not-popped-up-in-ages salutes you with his imaginary carrot!) Thanks to everyone! :) This is amazing!**

**Disclaimer: SSBB/SSBM characters don't belong to me. I just like messing with them and getting them drunk. XD and maybe killing them...**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review! (My goodness I'm going to get some hater comments from this chapter…XD)**

**Chapter 31: Assassin: Part 1 **

Ike was tugging on his cloak in the locker room when Marth shuffled in, the Altean's face a pasty green color against the fluorescent lights.

"So that cold shower didn't help as much as you thought it would?" Ike asked, cracking a smile as Marth opened his locker quietly, working hard not to make any extra noise and wincing when one of the hinges squeaked

"It might've helped more if there hadn't been a spew-filled garbage can sitting in the bathtub that I didn't see until _after_ I put my foot in it," Marth said sourly, stepping out of his pajama bottoms to reach for a pair of worn, cream-colored breaches.

Ike blinked, and couldn't help shooting a suspicious look at Marth's feet. "I'm _never_ letting you talk me into washing your socks again," he said as he bit back a laugh. "Or going anywhere near anything that's touched your feet,_ ever_ again. That's beyond gross."

Marth shot Ike a patronizing look as he struggled to yank on one of his boots.

"Hey," Ike shrugged. "The whole wine thing _was_ your idea, after all."

"Shut _up_," Marth huffed.

**xXx**

Quincy and Pit were, surprisingly, wide-eyed and bushy-tailed as they sat up in the nearly empty stadium with the rest of the bushy-tailed Brawlers (AKA, everyone who hadn't been involved in the little party the night before). They had set out last night to play Quincy's version of Kid Icarus—which he had managed to get his hands on via a Nintendo programmer he knew—but had ended up hitting their sugar-crash at almost exactly the same time and slept straight through until ten. They were a little sleepy, but at least their minds weren't still fuddled with alcohol like the older teenagers.

Pikachu was lounging in a chair on Quincy's left, watching the stage with its beady black eyes, its ears perked up curiously as it waited for the fight to start. Quincy had a prototype 3DS in his hand, and Pit was eagerly peeking over his shoulder, watching a cartoonized version of himself zoom across the screen.

"Quick question," a dull voice said over their shoulder. Both of the teenagers jumped, Quincy nearly dropping his game onto Pikachu, who leapt out of the chair, yellow fur bristling as it chirped indignantly at the pokemon trainer.

"Sorry," Quincy whispered, tickling the pokemon behind its ears.

Snake stood over the two of them, wearing a plain outfit that looked exactly like the one he had been wearing last night. "I was just curious," he gestured at the 3DS, which was now closed and lying in Quincy's lap. "Why are you so excited about your game, when Link always loses it when Marth tries to play his game?"

Pit shrugged. "I think this game did a pretty good job, so far. Link probably thinks that his game didn't. He keeps saying it wasn't accurate, right?"

Snake shrugged back. "Whatever. See you." He turned to leave, and then paused halfway up a step. "While I'm here, what happened last night?"

"Last night or early this morning?" Quincy quipped. "Because we left around one."

"I was asleep by then," Snake answered curtly. "Which is good, because if I wasn't, then Ike and Marth would have two grudge matches today instead of one. Maybe Ganondorf and I could have tag-teamed." With that, he sighed and trudged away again, his shoulders wiry and hard underneath his shirt.

Quincy and Pit shot each other curious looks, for Snake didn't often speak to them personally. He preferred to be by himself, but had apparently dragged himself away from the gym and his weapon manuals to watch this match.

"He's probably just annoyed because we kept him up," Pit guessed.

Quincy laughed. "Yeah. Good thing Ganondorf beat him to the challenge; otherwise Marth and Ike would be really dead."

Pit giggled. "Yep, at least you can outrun Ganondorf."

Link tottered into the stadium then, holding a hand to his head as he waved off Mario's cruel attempts to force him into a conversation. By now, every single brawler had learned that the teenagers were very much hung-over, and most of the adults had decided that they should probably teach these kids a lesson or two about drinking too much.

Needless to say, Link hadn't been allowed to rest in a quiet, dark room like he had wanted to. He sagged unhappily into the seat next to Pit, covering his eyes with his hand to block out the unwanted light.

"Does wine always do that?" Pit asked innocently.

"Please don't talk to me," Link moaned.

As more brawlers slowly trickled into the stadium, Quincy caught the eye of Sheik and Samus, who were shuffling along dejectedly behind Peach, who had both of their hands in a death grip as she towed them to a set of seats. Samus shot him a fiery glare, as if she were blaming him for her hangover, and then slouched into the seat Peach indicated.

Zelda, accompanied by Lucario and Kirby, came in a few moments after that. And then, a very ill-looking Roy—supported on either side by Captain Falcon and Fox—traipsed in as well, and suddenly every member from the party last night was present.

"Good morning!" a bright voice chirped over the announcement system. "Interning announcer Angel Fischer here! Your usual announcer is taking a sick day, so you'll have to deal with me. Sorry about that."

All of the brawlers turned their eyes towards the sound booth above the stage, where the announcer usually stood in his black suit and red tie, always looking very formal and stiff. Instead of him, they all saw a young, bubbly-looking girl, with spiked brown hair that had red streaks dyed into it. Her eyes were such a bright shade of green that they were visible even from where everyone sat, and her grin was huge and stretched across a round face. She held the microphone childishly close to her mouth as she spoke, revealing braces on her teeth.

"Today's match will be a doozie," Angel Fischer promised. "And without further ado, I give you _Ganondorf!_"

The tall, muscular man stepped out onto the stage, all black and menace as he stomped to the left side of the stage. His jaw was clenched tightly, and the stiff set of his shoulders let everyone know that he meant business. Everyone clapped politely, but the stadium seemed almost silent compared to its usual roar of adoring fans.

"And, on the other side," Angel shouted. "I give you tag-team_ Ike_ and _Marth!_" As the two stepped out, squinting and wincing as they came into the light, Angel continued. "Ike and Marth really have their work cut out for them today, ladies and gents! My sources say that they had a _bit_ too much fun last night—if you catch my drift—and it looks like they're having a hard enough time keeping their feet underneath them right now, let alone when Ganondorf is chasing after them. Best of luck to you boys!" It was evident by her tone that she was trying not to laugh. "Maybe this'll teach you to lay off the booze."

Marth, doubled over, hands on his knees, and flipped the bird in Angel's direction, but she took it in stride. "_Ooh_," she crowed. "Marth's in a bad mood today. You'd better run, Ganondorf. Or not. _FIGHT!_"

"Wow," Pit breathed. Quincy thought he was referring to Ike, who hadn't even been able to block the first punch and was struggling against Ganondorf's boot, which was pinning him to the ground, but when the Pokemon trainer followed Pit's line of sight, he saw that it was still focused on the sound booth.

More specifically, on Angel Fischer.

"…_Seriously?_" Quincy couldn't help asking.

"_Man_," Pit whistled. "How old do you think she is? She can't be much older than me, right?"

Quincy shrugged. "No, probably not that much."

Link shot the angel a look through splayed fingers. "Hey," he said dully. "I thought you weren't into the whole love thing?"

"Maybe I'm growing into it," Pit said thoughtfully, unable to tear his eyes away from the brown-haired girl up in the sound booth.

**xXx**

Down on the stage, neither Marth nor Ike had time to be concerned with the opposite gender. Ike had staggered at the wrong moment and gone down almost immediately, unable to bring his sword around due to the fact that Ganondorf had a foot on his arm and the other on his chest.

Marth abandoned the traditional style of fighting and leapt onto Ganondorf's back, pulling at the greater man's cloak. The suddenness of the attack gave Ike enough time to scamper away, but Ganondorf recovered quickly and simply fell backwards, nearly squashing Marth underneath him. As it was, Marth was able to jump away, but was off balance and unable to block Ganondorf's next grab. The huge man picked Marth up by the shoulders and flung him across the stage, where he bounced twice and then smashed into Ike's knees, sending them both tumbling to the ground, Marth's sword slipping from his fingers to skitter across the stage.

"Dang," he hissed as he scrambled to his feet and darted after Falchion, while Ike leapt up to engage Ganondorf. Just as Marth snatched up his sword from the ground, he had to whirl around and clumsily deflect a wide punch that grazed his shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ike struggling to his feet again, the cut on his face reopened and oozing red. The world spun sickly around him, and he almost dropped to one knee as his stomach flipped.

Angel Fischer was having a field day with his. "Aaand Marth goes down again!" she sang. "Poor guy."

"Stop it with the commentary!" Ike bellowed as Marth paused in the middle of a halfhearted attack to shoot off the bird again, and was immediately tackled by Ganondorf as a result. Ike hopped smartly to the side as the two rolled over his way, clawing, kicking, and cussing at one another. The sight would have been humorous if it had been Link and Marth rolling around instead of Marth and Ganondorf.

The brawlers were watching with a mixture of amusement and pity as Marth finally squirmed away and managed to dodge a wide kick, skipping backwards to rejoin with Ike.

"I don't feel so great," Marth admitted breathlessly, sagging a little.

Ike nodded in agreement, and then clapped Marth's shoulder reassuringly. "Nearly over," he whispered.

As if Ike had somehow triggered the event, two huge, shattering _BANG!_s rang out through the stadium, one immediately following the other, and the two navy-haired men toppled over.

Samus, Link and Sheik all shot to their feet, and the brawlers all shouted out in dismay, but none of them honestly expected anything had gone wrong. Either one of them had finally fainted and happened to take the other man down with him, or Ganondorf had a new trick up his sleeve. Surely nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

But it was revealed not to be the fault of Ganondorf when the huge man took a startled step backwards, his face paling to pasty grey color as he, along with the rest of the stadium, finally noticed the expanding red leaf leaking out from underneath Ike's body, mixing with an identical leaf trickling out from Marth.

**xXx**

The stadium seemed to explode in movement, with all of the brawlers vaulting over chairs and rails as they raced as a huge crowd towards the stage, Sheik and Samus leading the way. Horrified screams mixed with rational cries for help as medics joined the mass, pushing and shoving their way to the epicenter of the action. Ganondorf had stepped away from it all, looking somewhat excited, but not pleased. There was no look of triumph on his face—instead there was just honest surprise.

"What the heck happened?" Samus cried, sprinting to the center of the stage, where a medic was now crouched over Ike—who appeared to still be semi-conscious.

"Dang," Ike gasped, clutching at his side. "That was something else." He looked dazedly over at Ganondorf, who was still hovering at the edge of the crowd. "You have _got_ to teach me how to do that."

"Wish I could," the huge man answered curtly.

"This was a _gun!_" the medic shouted angrily as he fingered a bloody bullet in-between his fingers. "Who would shoot at brawlers with a _gun?_"

"A GUN?" cried Sheik, and the shout quickly spread through the entire crowd, echoing itself over and over.

A black-haired man shoved his way into the crowd, his normally pale face flushed. He knocked Pit aside, and in that moment Pit recognized him. "Dr. Stoelhart?"

Oliver Stoelhart whirled around, made eye contact, and continued shoving his way through the brawlers. When his progress was stopped, he reached into his jacket and yanked out an I.D. badge. "HEY!" he roared, calling attention to himself. "Get this whole place into lockdown _now!_ Whoever shot these two could still be here!"

There was something about the psychiatrist's voice that made everyone want to obey him. A brawl staffer relayed the command through a radio pulled from his hip, and several blast doors immediately fell from the ceiling, blocking all doorways. Each doorway was about a foot and a half of solid metal and could only be raised by remote. Everyone was locked in.

"Now look," Oliver snapped as the crowd fell silent, raking his hair impatiently out of his eyes. "We don't know what the heck happened, but there's a chance that the shooter is still in this arena."

Everyone flinched at that and automatically looked around them, as if they were afraid that they would be the next ones sprawled out on the ground.

"So you all need to search this place. Everyone unequipped for searching—that includes you guys," he gestured to the pale-faced staffers and medics. His gold-flecked eyes fell down on Marth and Ike. "And for God's sake get those two out of here. Someone go with them. I'm putting a strict buddy-system in effect starting right now; no one goes anywhere alone. Who'll go with the boys?"

"I can," Link said quickly, his eyes still bloodshot from his hangover as he stepped forward.

"No, not you," Oliver rolled his eyes. "You're scarcely able to stand on your own two feet. Pit, go with them."

"Me?" Pit squeaked. The medics had managed to carry the two Fire Emblem boys over to one of the doors and were waiting there anxiously.

"Go on, kid," Oliver hissed, giving the angel a little shove. "We need to figure this out."

As Pit scampered off to accompany the medics to the infirmary, Oliver stepped to the center of the stage, avoiding the blood puddle. He looked more than a little out of place in his black suit and tie, compared to the casually dressed Brawlers—many of whom had had a rough night.

"Alright," he said crisply. "This happened at a bad time. Half of you are about to keel over—by the way, we're going to need to talk about that later." Roy shuffled awkwardly. "And it doesn't help that most of the staffers are away this weekend. There's a conference over in Japan, which unfortunately means that I'm about the only one here with any idea how to handle something like this." He started to pace, commanding attention despite his obvious differences from the group. "Marth and Ike were shot with a gun. Who here knows how to use a gun?"

All eyes flew to Snake, and he took an automatic step back, holding his hands up in denial. "Hey, it's one thing to go after those two in the arena. It's another to shoot them in the back."

"Indeed," Stoelhart said, although it sounded like he wasn't convinced. "Anyway, Snake, can you offer any insight as to where the shot came from?"

Snake shook his head. "No. This place is built like an echo chamber." Almost as an afterthought, he added, "But the boys looked like they got shot from the back, so I'd guess the shot came from there." He pointed towards the back of the stage.

"Okay," Oliver said. "That'll be the starting place. Everyone go there and fan out. Find the shooter, find the gun, find us something to start from. We'll regroup if you don't find anything. Got that?"

Everyone nodded, and began to follow orders. Oliver Stoelhart left them to it, sighing sadly as he watched them fan out, all of their faces grim and determined, because he already knew that they wouldn't find anything.

**xXx**

Stoelhart found Pit, along with that commentator girl—Angel (how ironic), sitting outside of the infirmary, Pit leaning up dazedly against the door and Angel sniffling into a tissue. When Pit saw the psychiatrist, he snapped to attention. "Did they find the guy who did it?" he asked thickly.

Oliver shook his head. "Unfortunately no. Who's this?" he jerked his chin in the girl's direction.

"Angel Fischer," Pit explained. "I found here in the hallway when we came down here. She's hemophobic, so she left when she saw the blood, but then she got locked out. You said we needed to stick together, so I took her with me."

"Huh," Stoelhart said slowly. "That's a good idea, Pit. Nice thinking. Did you see anything, Ms. Fischer, from up in the booth? Did you see the shooter? He or she would have probably been up high, hard to see from the ground, unless it was one of the brawlers. Did you see anyone?"

Angel shook her head. "No," she murmured, all her bravado from the fight gone. "But I don't think it was a brawler! They aren't that cruel! Nobody here would shoot another brawler in the back like that!"

"Then who do you suggest did it, little lady?" Oliver bellowed, finally losing patience. "This was a closed grudge match, not open to the public! It wasn't even being broadcast! The only people allowed in that arena were _brawlers!_ I've got baddies in there who wouldn't hesitate to put a knife in _anyone's_ back if it would mean they got a shot at the crown. Marth especially is a pretty important guy back home. Anyone would stand a lot to gain if he died because he has no heirs. Do you understand that?"

Angel nodded, biting her lip.

"And Ike's no different—he's the general of an entire army, capiche? Come to think of it, Pit's the general of an army too, aren't you?"

Pit shrugged modestly.

Oliver scowled. "Great. Great great great. Everyone here has a potential motive, everyone was there, and nobody witnessed it…this is going to be a nightmare."

"What if Ike saw the shooter?" Angel suggested, dropping her tissue to play with a strand of her dyed hair. "He was half turned around at the time, wasn't he?"

"I wasn't there," Oliver pointed out. "I was in my office when I heard. But if he was turned around then maybe. It's a starting place, at least." He leaned up against the wall, his expression softening. "How are they? Have the doctors said anything?"

Pit nodded miserably. "They'll both live, the doctors said," he whispered numbly. "But…they're worried."

"Why?"

Pit looked down at the ground. "Well…Ike got hit in the chest, so they're worried about his lung, but they think he's alright. And Marth...They say he got hit in the shoulder of his right arm. They don't know if he'll be able to fight anymore." His voice grew quiet as he said that. "…He might not be able to use a sword."

The psychiatrist moaned and tilted his head back to look up at the ceiling. "We're in for some rough times, kids," he said grimly. "Brawl could get shut down if we don't catch this would-be assassin. Nothing's safe anymore."

"We'll find out who did it," Pit insisted, his voice shrill. "If we find who did it, and then we won't get shut down, right Dr. Stoelhart?"

Oliver shrugged. "I don't know, kiddo. I don't know. I'm going to need to write a report to the big guys over in Japan and see what they think."

Pit glared up at him, his crystal blue eyes piercing into Oliver's green. "We _will_ find out who did this," the angel repeated. "We won't let it happen again, and we will keep this place running. This place…these people…" His gaze skipped over to the infirmary door, where two of his closest friends were going through surgery. "…This means everything to me," he finished. "And I _will_ protect it."

"I wish you luck," Stoelhart said kindly as he reached down to ruffle Pit's hair. "We're all going to need it."

**xXx**

**AN: Yeeeah…..I really want the new Kid Icarus game. And I brought Oliver back. I love that guy too much. And new OC Angel Fischer made her first appearance as well. :) All I have to do is stick some Nya fluff in there and all of my OCs will be present. Hah! About this chapter…I was planning to shoot of Marth from the beginning (and he still managed to steal the spotlight anyway! Why can't you ever be quiet, Marth? Let the other characters talk!), but Ike somehow got caught up in the crossfire as well….Oops. That was unintentional—that's just how it came out. XD But this is forcing me to use other characters, so that's good, right?**

**I just noticed that every time I write a fight, I never actually use moves that are actually in the game. I always go for the unconventional stuff (like tackling and grabbing and shoving and stuff... XD).**

**Um…minor (?) announcement (you guys are going to hate me): My computer is literally wheezing out its last as I type this (I think I'm going to have to reboot…), and we're taking it into the shop tomorrow, so I'll be minus a computer for awhile (we're thinking about a 1.5 weeks). ;_; I'm reeeally sorry about that. On the plus side, I have about half of the next chapter written already, so maybe if I hurry with the rest of my stuff I'll post that later today. We'll see. Anyway, sorry about that. ;_; **

**Who is this mysterious assassin who no one conveniently saw? You'll have to wait and see! (AKA: I haven't actually decided yet… I have a few ideas, but I'd be interested to hear what you guys think so I can steal a better one. XD)**

**EDIT: Oh Lordie, HUGE thank you to _piplupfan580_ for catching that potentially offensive typo. X_x**

**Please review!**


	32. Chapter 32: The Assassin pt 2

**Am I a terrible person? Yes. Are you going to hate me for this chapter even though it might initially seem like a good thing? Yes. Am I having too much fun writing a mystery? Yes. Did I intentionally end this with a huge cliffhanger because I know I'm going to be gone for awhile? Yes. Mwahaha. Love it or hate it—I'll keep writing. XD **

**(Relatively) Short list of thanks because I DID upload the last chapter earlier today…XD Here we go! Thanks to **_**Mariko Midori;**_** I'm probably going to draw it out, but the ending will shock you (possibly)! ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Sorry about the OC thing—I'm not sure how big of a part that's going to play. Oliver's going to be a big character though. Not sure about Angel. XD ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Yeah, Angel….She's not developed yet. She's got a lot of potential. (And yes, she's new as of chapter 31) ~ Thanks to **_**MEAM-neko n.n**_**; YAY PIT! XD I understood what you meant, but I felt like making Snake say it, because he's the only guy who can use a gun. I have all my files backed up, no worries! ~ UBER thank you to **_**piplupfan580**_**; My goodness. Thank you for catching that typo. That was embarrassing. XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura;**_** Um…All I'm saying is that I'm very glad you don't know where I live. You'll see what I mean... (I have no idea why it's going to take so long to fix ;_;) ~ Thanks to **_**Sir StarlIl**_**; yeah, that was totally out of the blue, wasn't it? ;P Thanks for letting me bounce ideas off of you earlier. I'm interested in your theories as the story goes on because I'm actually using some elements from them (and I'm so sorry about not responding to your message—That's item #1 on my to-do list when I get the computer back ;_;) ~ And a final thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Perhaps having Snake OOC was intentional (mwahaha). I'll make sure to do your request once you let me know! :)**

**Disclaimer: Um….SSBB/SSBM don't belong to me. And Roy's an idiot. And I'm an evil person. Nuff said. **

**Boy, this one got reeeally crazy and perspective-switchy towards the end. I hope it's not hard to understand. Actually, I hope it is…I mean, I hope it's easy to understand, but I hope it doesn't make sense! (that made no sense…LOL) Please enjoy the one and only time that I update twice in the same day! **

**Please read, enjoy, possibly scream, don't make plans to kill me, and review! XD**

**Oh, BTW, please forgive any typos. I only did a scanning edit. ;_; Sorry about any spelling/grammar stuff...**

**Chapter 32: The Assassin: Part 2**

Samus stood in the infirmary, still wearing the same clothes she had donned much earlier that day after taking a cold shower. It seemed like that had been in a separate lifetime instead of only ten hours ago. Her memories of the whole day were blurred—partly due to the hangover, which was still dulling her normally sharp senses, partly because the events had been such a mixed bag.

She fidgeted with her sweatshirt sleeve, holding it up to her mouth and inhaling the scent of the clean fabric, closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to look at the gurney next to her.

If nothing else, the events of today had forced her to really think about things. Despite the ribbing she had taken for it, she hadn't been that troubled to wake up and find herself curled up against Marth's side. It had felt natural—like it was a long time coming. But the strange feelings associated with that moment were always completely overshadowed by the events that had followed. Montages of images flashed through her head; Marth ducking his head politely in her direction when they first met, his sleep-dulled face breaking into a scowl when she stole his coffee at breakfast, his startled face when she had kissed him that first time at the Brink, the triumphant look in his eyes when he kissed her back, the way he had looked sideways at her when she had dared to run her hands through his hair at the beach…It felt as if they had known one another forever.

Surely that young man—the boy who always seemed to be alive and thinking—wasn't the same person that was lying in the cot beside her. Unfortunately, the unusual color of his hair left little room for doubt. This was Marth, and he looked a mess. The combination of white lights and pain had completely drained his already pale skin of any color at all. He was heaped with blankets to keep him warm, but Samus knew that underneath the blankets his arm and shoulder were heavily bandaged, and various drips were plugged into his other arm, keeping him in a stable condition. His face was pinched, as if he was still in pain even though he had been on a painkiller drip since about lunchtime.

The door to the infirmary opened, and Samus quickly turned away, giving herself a moment to gather her wits before facing the intruder.

"Angel Fischer," she said, hearing the own numb tone in her voice. "What are you doing here?"

The younger girl walked over to Ike's cot and leaned up against one of the railings, scuffing her brightly-colored tennis shoes against the linoleum floor. Her face was blotchy, as if she'd been crying. "I wanted to know if there had been a change."

"They've been the same since I showed up after everything calmed down this morning," Samus replied coolly. "You should probably get to sleep."

Angel's eyes were focused on Ike's sleeping face; he had come out of the attack a little bit better than Marth had, but he was still unhealthily pale as he slept, and the doctors were still a little worried about his lung. "You know, this place will lose something important if Marth has to leave," she said dully. "The doctors are saying that his right arm will be paralyzed unless some miracle cure is introduced soon."

"You picked a funny time to care," Samus couldn't help snapping. "You seemed to enjoy it when he was getting beaten around this morning."

"He got himself into that," Angel answered fiercely. "He's underage and he shouldn't have been drinking. But this wasn't his fault, and I feel like I should have done something else."

"Yeah, you should've. You should've been keeping an eye on the audience. If nobody here did it, then you should have noticed the outcast immediately. Instead, you didn't, and now Marth and Ike might have to…" Samus choked herself off, realizing the harshness of the words she spoke.

"Never mind," she growled. "Forget it."

**xXx**

"Why can't we just go back to bed?" Roy whined loudly. "My head hurts sooo bad!"

"-Ly," Link corrected crossly. "Your head hurts so bad_ly_."

"Since when did you care?" Roy snapped sourly. "Marth and Ike are about to be kicked out of Brawl and all you can do is correct my grammar?"

He and Link were creeping through the Brawl complex late at night, around the same time that Samus was losing her temper with Angel. Although Roy was in his ratty pajamas, Link—who had dragged Roy from bed—was still fully clothed, having not sat down for longer than a few minutes that whole day. The only reason he hadn't fallen over from exhaustion was the little miracle drink called espresso.

"Don't you think I know that?" Link hissed back, grabbing Roy by the partially unbuttoned collar of his shirt and shaking him a little, purposefully aggravating Roy's waning hangover. "I'm trying to help them!"

"What do you need me for, then?" Roy moaned.

"Buddy system," Link explained as he shoved the red-head away and peered around a corner. "Remember? The intruder could still be in the complex."

"Please. He left and everyone knows it."

Link was really regretting having chosen Roy as the one to bring along. His first three choices; Marth, Zelda, and Ike (in that order), were all out of the competition, what with Marth and Ike confined to the infirmary and Zelda deserving a good night's sleep. Roy was much less deserving of sleep, in Link's opinion, so he had chosen him. But _dang_ that kid was loud, and Sheik or Ike wasn't around to put him back in his place!

"You don't know that," the Hylian sighed. "He could be waiting in the rafters, prepared to jump down and end the life of some little crybaby lord."

"Or a stuck-up farm elf," Roy retorted, sticking out his tongue. "I'm smaller than you, so the assassin will pick you off first because you're the more dangerous one."

"Or he'll pick you off first because he knows you'll scream," Link teased, and then belatedly scowled. "And for the umpteenth time, I am not an elf."

"Sure. And Marth's straight," Roy said sarcastically, his eyes glittering impishly in the semi-darkness.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Link countered.

"Touche! You win." Roy laughed, and held his hand out for a high-five. Link high-fived the younger boy, feeling a touch of the old comradeship back from Melee start to come back. "So where are we going?" Roy asked perkily.

"What happened to your headache?" Link rolled his eyes, but he was grinning as he rounded another corner. "You and me, we're like secret agents."

Roy got into the role and tumbled around the next dark corner and came up on his knees, pretending to hold a gun in his hands. In reality, he looked pretty ridiculous, clad as he was in his plaid pajama pants and baggy button-down shirt advertising Fire Emblem. When Link came around the corner, Roy called "bang!" and Link comically toppled over, pretending to writhe in pain on the ground.

Then both of them remembered that that same exact thing had happened just earlier that morning, except for real, and the joke suddenly wasn't funny anymore.

Unusually somber, Link straightened up, all fun and games gone. "We're going to see if the psychiatrist is still up. Pit's always on about how the guy knows everything. We're going to see if there's a way to help Marth and Ike stay in the fight."

"Cool," Roy said solemnly. "Anything we can do to help. I'm sure the others would help too."

"I don't know," Link said thoughtfully, his hand hovering over the wood of Stoelhart's door. "Something's…weird. I mean, we looked all over that whole stadium and we didn't find anything. Not even Lucario was able to get a psychic presence or anything. It would have had to been one of us, otherwise Lucario would've noticed something weird."

"But Link!" Roy gasped, horrified. "You don't think one of_ us_ would've…"

"I don't know. I'm just saying we should be carefu—" Link froze, as if he had realized something.

"What?" Roy whispered, almost dreading the answer.

"Stoelhart's office," Link said, turning to face the door and putting his hands on his hips. "It's about as far as you can get from the stadium, yet he appeared almost right after the shooting, didn't he?"

"Maybe he was in the hallway," Roy said briskly. "Come on, Link. There's no end to it once you start suspecting people. Next thing you know you'll be saying _I_ shot them."

"You would never shoot Marth," Link whispered. "Ike, maybe."

"Link!" Roy cried, highly offended. "Sure I'm a little annoyed that he's all cozy with Sheik, but I'd never try to _kill_ him! What's wrong with you? Maybe _you_ tried to kill them both and are trying to cover yourself!"

"What would I stand to gain?" Link shouted back. "Those guys are like my brothers!"

"I've known Marth as long as you have! That shot was obviously meant for him, so—"

"And how would you know who the shot was meant for if you hadn't shot it, wise guy?"

Just as the two were about to lunge for the other's throat, Oliver Stoelhart opened his door, a pen tucked behind his ear and his appearance unusually ruffled—his shirt was partially untucked, and his hair was more haphazard than usual. "Boys, what are you doing?"

Link and Roy leapt away from one another.

"Sorry," Link said evenly, although it was obvious from the tone of his voice that he still heavily suspected the person standing before him. "We were wondering if we could ask you something, Doctor."

"Sure, of course," Oliver said easily and stepped aside to let them into his office. The dark room was lit only by a lamp sitting on Oliver's desk as well as the white glow from his computer screen, which had switched to screen saver mode. Roy—who had never been inside the psychiatrist's office before, looked around in awe, while Link set about gathering information. The Hylian's first step was to accidentally kick Stoelhart's desk as he sat down, jolting the computer out of its screen saver. A partially-written email was revealed on the screen for a moment, but before Link could start trying to read it, Oliver quickly minimized the window and then flicked his screen off.

"Sorry," he apologized to Link. "That's confidential stuff. I have access to everyone's personal files, so I have to be pretty careful about who sees what." He managed a weary smile as he sank down into his chair. "How can I help you boys out tonight? I'm guessing that you're not here to ask to be admitted to an Alcoholic's Anonymous organization. If you are, then we seriously need to talk. As it is, I'm a little disappointed with your lack of self-control you displayed last night." He pulled the pen from behind his ear and started to flip it over and over in his hand.

"It's not like that," Roy said quickly as his face flushed almost as bright as his hair. "We wanted to ask you something about Marth and Ike."

Stoelhart pulled a face. "I have access to personal records, but I'm not all-knowing. I don't know if they're going to be alright any more than you guys do. Last I knew, Samus was staying in the infirmary, so I'll assume you two will be among the first to know if anything changes."

"But is there any way to help them?" Roy blurted. "They're saying that Marth won't be able to fight, and Ike's going to have breathing complications. They'll both have to go home!"

Oliver pierced Roy with his strange green-gold eyes. "I imagine you can sympathize with them quite a bit on that topic."

Roy's face twisted a little and his hands clenched, but other than that he showed little reaction to the taunt. "Yes, I would imagine I can," he snapped, slipping into an accent reminiscent of the one Marth often used when he was annoyed.

Having been unable to find anything convicting, Link jumped back to the original subject. "Is there anything we can do? We have the warps, don't we? Can't we just get some magic potion to make them better? If I got hurt back home, all I'd need is a fairy or something."

"Unfortunately," Oliver said over steepled fingers. "Magic things like that are only effective on the people of that same land. Those potions would work on you, Link, because you're a Hylian. We have no idea what something like that could do to an Altean like Marth."

"Doesn't Fire Emblem have an equivalent or something?" Link tried desperately. "I mean, there's got to be something we can do!" He turned to Roy. "Isn't there something? Vulnerable…? Vulner-something, right?"

"A vulnerary," Roy nodded. "But vulneraries are no good for physical stuff," Roy inserted. "At least not where I come from. They're just an energy booster. More of a pain-killer, mostly."

"I was about to say the same thing, unfortunately," Stoelhart sighed. "But…" he trailed off thoughtfully.

"_Omigosh!_" Roy gasped as he came to the same conclusion that Oliver just had.

"What?" Link asked irritably, peeved at being the only one in the dark.

"Healing staffs!" Roy and Oliver cried in unison. "Clerics!"

"…Huh?"

"Can we do that?" Roy demanded breathlessly. "Can we warp over to Lycia, get a cleric, and bring her back? I know a really good one!"

Oliver's eyes were so wide that the white was visible all the way around. "Yes!" he crowed. "The Fire Emblem universes are so intricately linked, you could do it. It would work! Nice thinking!"

"What the heck is going on?" Link demanded as Roy grabbed the Hylian's arm to jerk him from his seat.

"We're going to Lycia—my home! Remember? You went there with me for Christmas a long time ago," Roy said breathlessly.

Link had more vague memories of a Lycian girl as opposed to Lycia itself, but that part at least made sense to him. "What's all this about staffs?"

"They're magic!" Roy hollered as he ran for the door. "Thanks Dr. Stoelhart!"

"Anytime, kiddo! Let me know if you become an alcoholic!" Oliver called playfully after them. "Oh, and make sure you don't go dressed like that—the natives will flip out. Go in costume, and hurry back! You can only heal after so long! Remember that, Roy!"

"Got it!" Roy said seriously and succeeded in yanking Link out of the office and back out into the dark corridor only because the Hylian was so shocked by the sudden turn of events. Roy kept pulling the stumbling Link down the hallways until they reached the locker rooms, where Roy proceeded to strip off his pajamas quickly and don his tunic and armor.

"Come on!" he shouted at Link. "We've only got a limited amount of time!"

"ROY!" Link bellowed, finally making himself heard. "Where's your head? We can't just go charging in there! It's the middle of the night!"

"This is an emergency," Roy snapped back. "We have to move fast! Stoelhart was right—you can only heal after so long. After a certain point the damage becomes irreversible."

"Yeah, but—" Despite his doubts, Link quickly changed into his tunic.

"Leave the hat!" Roy snapped, yanking the green wind-sock from Link's head. "Nobody wears that in Lycia. You'll look weird."

"Roy, what if—" Link started again, but Roy was already sprinting towards the exit, all traces of his hangover gone.

Link only managed to catch up just as Roy reached the warp spot and was about to jump into it. He lunged after his younger friend, but Roy was already gone. Link's hands grazed the back of Roy's cape, but it was too late.

The Hylian stood there for a few minutes in the night cold, watching his breath blossom in cold clouds in front of his face. After a moment, he gritted his teeth and jumped through the portal, following the younger boy who had once betrayed Link's closet friend for a second chance at glory.

**xXx**

Roy was brushing himself off when Link flew out of the portal, which had been inconveniently placed right next to a prickly thorn bush. When Link stumbled, he fell right into it and immediately let loose a blue riot of swearing.

"Jeez," Roy laughed, pulling Link out of the worst of it. "I thought you weren't coming after me." The Lycian night was even colder than the Earth one, and Roy's costume tunic wasn't doing much to keep the wind out. "Come on, my father's castle is just over that hill. We'll find the cleric and bring her back. I bet we'll be back by tomorrow morning."

"ROY," Link screamed in frustration, grabbing the young lord by the cape and giving him a shake. "What if it really was Stoelhart? We just did exactly what he told us to do! He could close the warp after us. We could be stuck here, and _this isn't my home!_" A slightly panicked tone entered Link's voice as the full danger of what he had just done registered. "We don't have the technology here to build another warp. I could be stuck here forever! We might never see the others again! If Stoelhart wanted to get rid of us, this is an excellent way to do it, isn't it?"

Roy's face paled to ashen white in the darkness.

"And what if Stoelhart decided to jump the gun?" Link continued hysterically. "He obviously knew I was checking him out—what if he decides to do something else? What if we just got everyone else killed, just because you weren't willing to think things through!"

"Can't we just go back?" Roy yelped. "Go back through the portal, Link! I'll stay here, and you go to make sure no one messes with the warp, okay? That'll work, right?"

"Right," Link said, swallowing hard. He realized that his hands were shaking, and clenched them to make the shaking stop. Taking a deep breath, he stepped onto the portal and waited for the octagon beneath his feet to turn blue as a sign that it was ready to transport.

Except it didn't turn blue.

Link's face was indescribable as he slowly lifted his head to look up at Roy. "We're stuck," he whispered, those two words a horrible understatement. "We're stuck," he whispered.

Roy staggered and fell to his knees, holding his hands up to his face as the world seemed to swirl around him. "Oh jeez," he breathed. "What have I done?"

**xXx**

Back in Brawl, the psychiatrist was typing away at his computer when the phone rang. His hands paused on the keyboard, still twitching a little as they air-typed words that he had yet to write. After a second's hesitation, Oliver Stoelhart snatched up the phone. "Hello?"

There was a pause.

"Yes," Oliver sighed resignedly. "You don't need to worry, Sir. I took care of the problems we mentioned."

**xXx**

On the lawn, a man stood triumphantly next to the dead warp, the same gun that had just plugged a bullet into the warp's circuitry now comfortably held in his hand. A grin twisted up his stubbled-covered face, and the tie wrapped around his head fluttered a little in the breeze.

**xXx**

In the hospital, Angel Fischer was still leaning on the railing of Ike's bed, lost in her thoughts, when she noticed Ike cough.

Thinking nothing of it, she dismissed the sight almost immediately.

Her heart seemed to stop, however, when he coughed again—and didn't take another breath.

"_SAMUS!_ HE'S NOT BREATHING!"

**xXx**

_**P**_**_lease_ don't kill me, **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**. *sweatdrops* I swear, I must be evil or something, because I haven't had this much fun writing a chapter since Genevieve kicked Marth out back in the Divide. XD There's just something about this chapter that makes me all anxious and excited, even though I know how it all ends.**

**Lessons learned from this chapter: I like twisting things to suit my own purposes (Vulneraries actually do heal...XD I just wanted Roy to go for the staffs because those are more interesting). I am evil. Never trust your psychiatrist. Link is a wuss when he gets scared. Portals are ALWAYS placed in awkward places (like on the edge of hills or next to prickly bushes). And there really is no end to it once you start suspecting people, and I must confess that I ripped that line off of Battle Royale (should've put that in the disclaimer. I don't own that line. There.)**

**And with that, I hand the computer off to the repair people *sigh* and bid you all goodbye for a few weeks! (Told you I was evil! ;P Make up your own theories to satisfy yourself until I return!)**

**Please review! (and, if you could restrain yourself, I would appreciate no flaming)**


	33. Chapter 33: The Assassin pt 3

**I'm baaaaack! With a brand new computer to boot! Hah! Now you'll finally know what happens! (sorta…)**

**First off, thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Man, computer issues are such a pain, aren't they? ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Isn't there actually some argument over who Roy's mom really is? If she pops up, I'll make sure she's named Ninian. :) ~ Thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; Excellent analysis, my friend! "Unfortunately, that's the wrong answer!" I actually stole one of your earlier ideas to use though, so keep on guessing! ~ Thanks to **_**LinksPlaidTunic**_**; The reason it took so long was because we actually got a NEW computer instead of replacing the old one, so then it took forever to transfer everything over. :\ Thanks for waiting! ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; Mission accomplished (jk, jk!). Yes, I do love Marth too much. XD I'd never kill him off (until the final arc). ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; *passes tissues* Sorry about that…But do you really think I'd kill one of my favorite characters off (wait…don't answer that)? ~Special thanks to **_**angel**_**; …I'm actually really starting to like writing you. XD Thanks again for letting me borrow your name! ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Another excellent analysis! And yes, that music totally fits, and I will be more careful what I promise. Thanks again! ~ Thanks to **_**Reality Is Fantasy**_**; Love the username. And why do you all think I killed Ike? He's not dead (yet). ~ Thanks to **_**Skye-Moonknight7913**_**; You just summed up the general emotion of everyone reading. XD Kudos! ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; You are possibly the most optimistic reviewer for this chapter. :) ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; "Marth and Ike are down." XD Indeed they are. ~ Thanks to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi**_**; Beam swords! I will never forget! XD ~ Thanks to **_**Kitty-nin**_**; Um…unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with Metal Gear to try writing about it, so it's a no to your Snake-twin idea. Sorry. ~ Thanks to **_**Pk Love Omega**_**; XD You will know all soon. ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; Noooooooooo…And it's not someone nobody knows of. He's been around for awhile. (hah) ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; He's not dead yet! Why does everybody think Ike's dead? Would I seriously do that? Thank you for being an Ollie-Fan! :) ~ Thanks to **_**pikachuandarceus**_**; Your first all-caps line was right, second one…not so much. XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**introtothepanic**_**; Yay! New reviewer! Thank you so much! ~ And a final thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Please make sure to let me know if I make a really obvious mistake. XD Thanks! **

**I got a ton of reviews (not that I'm complaining), (HOLY COW! OVER 350! WOOT!) so I'm saving my usual author rant for the end so you guys can get reading!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing Nintendo is mine. Oliver and Angel are though (well…Angel's, like, ½ mine XD).**

**Thanks to everyone who waited. :) With that, I encourage you to youtube_ Clipping_ by Mute Math (because it suits this arc and I like it), strap on your headphones, and please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 33: The Assassin: Part 3**

A large group of brawlers had been unable to sleep that night, and had proceeded to gather in their pajamas in the same area, pulled from their beds by some deep rooted instinct just to be close to one another, some instinct that told them that if they were with more people, they would be safe. They wound up all slumped in the hallway outside of their bedrooms, most of them sitting up against the wall with their knees drawn up to their chests. A deep silence hung over the air, and it wasn't the quiet, meditative silence that many of the brawlers enjoyed. This was a tense, awkward silence. It was the sort of silence that fell over a town just before being shattered by tornado sirens. It was the sort of silence that a couple finds themselves in before one admits to cheating. Simply put, it was a scary, deep oppressive silence. It was the silence of the unknown, and nobody was brave enough to break it.

Quincy was curled up into a little ball next to his door, his dark eyes drooping with sleep that lingered just outside his grasp. For once, he wasn't wearing his trademark baseball cap, and his hair was falling into his face like a light brown curtain. He held his hands close to his mouth, the sleeves of his flannel nightshirt pulled over his fingers. Next to him, Pikachu was curled in a similar position, its black eyes twinkling at little as it glanced down at the unofficially assembled brawlers sprawled out through the hallway. Sheik was there, scowling darkly at the carpet with a hoodie sweatshirt that looked like it had been washed one-too-many times pulled up over her head. Zelda sat next to her, a cream-colored nightgown partially hidden by a fluffy bathrobe. Pit was hunched over his knees, looking despondently at the wall. The huge shirt (once belonging to Ganondorf, although the angel didn't know it) almost looked like a nightgown on him, hanging down to his knees and nearly falling off his shoulders.

Even some of the quieter brawlers hadn't been able to sleep, it seemed. Meta Knight was sitting against the wall with Kirby, and the ice climbers were leaning against one another's shoulders, looking glum and depressed.

In fact, the only people who weren't out in the hallway were Ganondorf, Marth, Ike, Samus, Roy, Link, and Snake. Zelda kept lifting her head to look hopefully up and down the hallway, but her fellow Hylian was still nowhere to be seen. Sheik, surprisingly, could be caught scanning the hallway in much the same way, presumably looking for Roy. Or maybe she was looking for Ike. It was hard to tell with her.

Suddenly, the silence was shattered as door leading to the corridor from the rec room was flung open and a familiar man leapt into the hallway.

"Snake!" everyone cried out in unison. Snake—who usually wore an expression that suggested he was either mildly amused or bored out of his mind—now looked nervous and jumpy, and practically scampered down the hallway, nudging Kirby out of the way with his boot before leaping into his bedroom and slamming the door with enough force to rattle the wall.

The sound was like a gunshot, and the similarity would have been enough to blanket the entire hallway in unhappy silence again, had Pit not suddenly spoken up.

"Hey," he said softly. "Does anyone know where Roy and Link went?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Nobody knows?" the angel continued. "Well…isn't that…bad? I mean, shouldn't we be worried? They aren't in their bedrooms, right? So where'd they go?" His voice was calm, but sharp. "Shouldn't we be figuring out where they are instead of just sitting around? Or shouldn't we be figuring out who shot Marth and Ike?"

"Look," Meta Knight spoke up, speaking in his gravelly voice. "Lucario says it must've been one of us." The blue pokemon nodded mournfully. "Do you really want to know something like that?" Meta Knight continued. "Enjoy your ignorance, kid."

"Ignorance is stupid," Sheik mumbled into her arm. "We should at least know who we're fighting."

Pit, bolstered on by Sheik's agreement, turned on Meta Knight. "Do you know something?" he asked scathingly. "Because if you do, spit it out now!"

Quincy stirred on the floor, startled by his friend's tone. It was different. It was harsh.

"Why would I know anything?" Meta Knight sighed. "I don't use guns. You should ask _them_." He thrust his hand over towards the Star Fox group.

"Please!" Wolf snarled. "Our guns shoot rays, idiot. We don't do barbaric bullets. You should ask _Snake!_ He's the one acting strange!"

"He already said he didn't do it," Pit argued, shooting to his feet. With his huge shirt hanging to his knees, he was a ridiculous sight to behold, but his eyes were fiery and seemed to command attention anyway. "Lucario says it was one of us, right? Who have the motive?"

"Genevieve," someone grumbled.

"Nah," Pit said dismissively. "She's done. And besides, she was never one of us."

"Maybe _you_ did it, Pit."

"An _angel _shot Marth and Ike?" Zelda pointed out. "Not likely."

"Well, it _is_ Marth. It could be divine judgment," Sheik said thoughtfully, a wry smile twisting at her face. "But Pit's right. We should at least be trying to figure out where Link and Roy went, right? Anyone who wants to help can come with me." She flashed a red glare over everyone sitting out in the hallway. "Everyone else should just go back to bed. You've got no reason to be out here anymore."

**xXx**

"We're stuck…" Link backpedaled from the warp pad, his face whiter than a ghost's in the darkness.

"This makes no sense," Roy was saying. "I mean, it's possible that the warp back at the complex's been messed with, but that doesn't explain why this one is dead." He squatted down in the tall grass, wary of the briar bush behind him, and experimentally twiddled with the warp's dials even though he honestly had no idea what any of them did. "I mean, shouldn't we be able to warp other places? We should be able to go anywhere, really, right?"

"But it's not. Turning. Blue," Link growled, obviously impatient and scared. "How the heck are we supposed to get anywhere without this thing turning blue?"

Roy rolled his eyes. "Why do you think I know?" He experimentally ran his hand over the smooth surface of the plate and discovered a small hole. "Hey elf-boy, I think I found the problem."

Link, who had been pacing back and forth anxiously with his hands tangled in his hair, suddenly whirled around. "Can you fix it?" he demanded.

"Um…no," Roy said distractedly as he started pawing through the grass, searching for something. After a few moments, he leaned back on his legs and sighed, blowing his hair out of his eyes.

"What?" Link whispered.

Roy scowled. "I think someone shot the warp just after you came through. The bullet probably destroyed the warp back at Brawl, but the bullet was already warping over here, and it messed up this one here. Look, there's a hole right there." He directed Link's hand over to the almost invisible crater. "That's why it's not working. I was looking for the bullet to prove it, but…" He looked around him at the grass, and then glared up at the dark sky. "I guess that's not happening."

"So we basically have no hope," Link said miserably. "We're stuck here forever." The Hylian bit his lip and blinked quickly. "I…" His voice was quiet. "I would've liked to say goodbye."

**xXx**

"Right," Zelda said, taking charge of the large group that had departed from the hallway. "Where do we start?"

"We should split up," Mario suggested. "We'd cover more ground that way, right?"

"Right," Wolf agreed instantly. "But we need to stay within the psychiatrist's buddy system. That was a smart move, and I agree with it. Nobody goes alone."

Zelda nodded. "That makes sense."

_The psychiatrist,_ Lucario mused, closing its slitted eyes to concentrate as it broadcast its thoughts to everyone else. _Does he come to the arena often?_

"You don't think Dr. Stoelhart had anything to do with this?" Pit gasped, horrified by the thought. "He's a good guy, he'd never—"

"Snake was supposed to be a good guy too," Wolf snapped. "And look at him. The poor guy's been reduced to a nervous wreck. He obviously knows something."

"Okay," Zelda said thoughtfully. "We've got a few leads here, right? We've got the arena, where this whole thing happened—"

"We already looked there," Donkey Kong moaned. "We looked everywhere."

"Did we?" Zelda challenged. "Maybe we'll see something different this time. We've got the arena; we've got the psychiatrist—"

"He's got nothing to do with this!" Pit cried.

"Please let me talk," Zelda sighed. "We've got the arena, the psychiatrist, Link and Roy—we don't know where they went, and we've got Snake, right? Am I forgetting anything?"

"When Marth and Ike wake up-" Quincy started.

"_If _they wake up," Luigi said glumly.

Quincy shot the green man a furious scowl and continued. "_When_ the guys wake up, they could have information as well."

"I hadn't thought of that," Zelda nodded wearily. "So we've got five leads. Let's split up and go check those out. Maybe we'll have this figured out by morning."

**xXx**

Considering that it had been Quincy's idea to go and check on Marth and Ike, he was voluntold that he would be the one investigating that lead. As Quincy's best friend, Pit had immediately volunteered to come along, and Pikachu and Lucario ended up tagging along as well. They were an odd group, padding through the hallways in their pajamas as they were.

Finally, Quincy mustered up the courage to ask something that had been bothering him for awhile. "Hey, Pit?"

"Yeah?" the angel asked. "What's up, Quince?"

"I just…you seemed…" The pokemon trainer was having a hard time figuring out how to phrase what he wanted to say. "You just seemed…sharp, earlier. Was there a reason?"

Pit thought about it, lacing his fingers behind his head as he tilted his head up to look at the ceiling. His spare sleep the night before and the fact that it was past midnight now was making it difficult to come up with an intelligent answer. "I wasn't really trying to be sharp," he said finally. "I just feel like…The last time there was a crisis, I didn't do anything." He turned to look at his friend. "You got really hurt last time, Quincy, and I didn't do anything. I just curled up into a ball and hoped the problem would go away without me." His voice was earnest as he finished, "And I'm not going to be like that again. I want to help this time."

"Oh," Quincy said. "Well, you don't have to worry, Pit. I don't fight on the stage, but I can take care of myself." Just for fun, he made a fist and tried to punch the angel's shoulder. The pokemon trainer just caught a glimpse of Pit's mouth quirking up in a smirk, and then he wasn't there anymore. Quincy's hand only struck air, and Pit was popping back to his feet after rolling underneath the punch.

"Too slow," he quoted, mimicking Sonic's voice almost perfectly.

Lucario rolled its eyes as it shoved past the two adolescents with a sort of sarcastic snort. The game ended, Quincy scooped the lagging Pikachu up into his arms and chased after Pit, who had finally just started down the last hallway before the infirmary.

**xXx**

"Well…" Roy sighed, straightening up as he looked over the bleak horizon. "The castle should be to the east, so…" He glanced up at the stars, smirking to himself as he found Polaris and began working from there. It didn't matter where one went; the stars were always the same.

Link, the more experienced stargazer of the two of them, found the east heading first. "This way," he sighed, pointing off towards the distance. "I guess there's nothing for it but to find this heal staff thingy and then see if the situation's gotten any better, right?"

"Right," Roy said, happy that Link seemed to be regaining his composure. Roy struck out at a brisk pace, and surprised himself by quickly becoming annoyed with his cape, which seemed to get stuck on every blade of grace he walked over. Surely it hadn't been so long ago that he wore capes like this every day, and he was never bothered by them then.

"Hey Roy?" Link asked, jerking Roy out of his thoughts. "How far away is the castle?"

"Mile and a half…?" Roy guessed. "Maybe a bit more. If we could find a road, that'd help. I don't remember if there's one around here though…"

Any enthusiasm that Link had managed to inject into his voice drained out at those words. "Are you saying that we're going to have to walk more than a mile and a half in the dark through this grass?" he asked incredulously.

"Yep," Roy said chirpily. "Oh yeah, and there might be a swamp somewhere along the way. I forget." Just as Link was about cuss under his breath, the younger boy turned on his heel and beamed broadly. "Just kidding! Come on, let's go!"

**xXx**

Zelda and Sheik were the only two who really wanted to talk to Oliver Stoelhart, so they were the two who now found themselves knocking on his door. The first time there was no answer, but after Sheik pounded on the door with the flat of her hand and screamed that she was going to kick the door down if the man didn't open it, Stoelhart eased it open.

"Zelda and Sheik. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he said, sounding annoyed. Or maybe just tired. It was difficult to tell.

Just as Sheik was about to shout something rude, Zelda quickly inserted, "We were wondering if you knew anything about what happened today."

Oliver sighed. "I think you mean yesterday. It's past midnight."

"Do you or don't you, you quack?" Sheik bellowed, her face almost as red as her eyes and her fists bunched at her sides.

Oliver visibly sagged, unsurprised by Sheik's outburst. "You must be worried," he said—his voice gentler this time. "But unfortunately, I don't know anything new. Roy and Link came by here earlier to ask the same thing."

"Link and Roy?" Zelda burst out, her voice almost as loud as Sheik's. "They've gone missing—do you know where they are?"

Oliver stiffened, and then shot a glance back into his office, almost like he was watching for something.

"If you know something, then spit it out!" Sheik snapped. "Heck, if you know anything! Come on. What about Snake? Does he have anything to do with this?"

"Snake…" Stoelhart started, and then shot another anxious glance back into his office. He kept the door closed just enough that neither of the women could see what he was looking at. "Look, Link and Roy went off to look for a way to save Marth and Ike," he said hurriedly. "I gave them the idea of looking for a healing staff, and I don't think either of you will know what that is. Just leave them to it, alright? Go back to bed."

He started to close the door, but Sheik jammed her foot into it. "We're not done!"

"Yes, we are," he answered calmly. "That's honestly all I know, and now you two have to go. Go back to your rooms, and don't come out. It's not safe here. Please, just go."

**xXx**

Pit and his pokemon company opened the infirmary doors, expecting to see two gurneys as well as Samus—who had declared that she wasn't leaving Marth's side until he woke up.

Instead, there was only one gurney, and in place of the missing one was Angel Fischer.

"Angel!" Pit said, feeling as if the name had been snatched from him. "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't like blood."

"There…wasn't blood," Angel said dully, turning her bright eyes down to the floor. Samus was leaning over Marth's bed, and the Altean was still there, although Quincy immediately noticed that Marth's face was sickly pale, and the pillow his head rest on looked like it was dampened by sweat.

"Where's Ike?" the pokemon trainer asked hoarsely. "Is he alright?"

"He's in the ER," Samus said bluntly. "They wonder if a lung collapsed, because he suddenly started having trouble breathing."

Pit's breath hitched in his throat, and all of the thought space that had been recently filled with how pretty Angel was, even when she was obviously distressed, was instantly filled with worry for his friend. "They think his lung collapsed?" he said, horrified.

Samus shrugged, and reached out to absently brush a strand of hair from Marth's forehead. She looked down helplessly at Lucario. "Can you...sense…anything?" she asked after a moment.

_Perhaps_, the psychic pokemon broadcast. It closed its eyes and concentrated. After a moment, it stated, _Ike is alive, but that's all I can say. He's too far away—I can't read him clearly through these walls. As for Marth…_

"What about Marth?" Samus blurted.

Lucario's mouth twitched into a somewhat wolfy smile. _He was in pain, but he is at rest now. He's having a pleasant dream. He dreams of you._

Samus—who had sagged against the rail of Marth's bed at the good news, jerked up at that, her blue eyes sparkling. "Really?"

_Yes._ Lucario nodded.

Pit crouched down next to Angel, who had curled up into a ball along the white wall of the infirmary. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Sure," Angel choked. "I'm just…depressed. I wish this hadn't happened. Or, if it had to happen, I wish I wasn't there to see it."

"I feel the same way," Pit said encouragingly. All of a sudden, he was thinking of several things at once, all of them ridiculous and all of them including Angel. He hadn't thought himself capable of thinking about so much at once. Yet here he was, noticing her clothes, her eyes, the tone of her voice, wondering about her past, wondering about her future, and wondering how he could help her, all at the same time. It was all new to him.

"I mean, this is the first time Mr. Simonson has been gone," Angel mumbled into the tearstained knees of her jeans. "I wish he hadn't gotten sick. He'd have known what to do. He would have seen the attacker. He's been the commentator for so long, and I'm so new… I'm just so stupid—I wasn't even watching the crowd!"

"No!" Pit said hurriedly. "You're not stupid. I'll bet you were nervous about your first commentary, right? You were focusing on the match to make sure you didn't miss anything. It was your first time. It was just bad luck what happened, okay? It wasn't your fault."

Angel managed a weak laugh. "You're probably the only one who thinks that," she said shakily, wiping at her eyes embarrassedly.

"So?" Pit exclaimed. "It doesn't matter if it's only one person or the whole world. All that matters is that it's not zero, right?"

Angel's green eyes darted up to him. "You're right," she said. "I never thought of it like that."

Pit smiled warmly down at her, understanding that she probably wouldn't smile back. He didn't blame her for not smiling—but at the same time he wished she would. She looked so much prettier when she smiled.

**xXx**

Meanwhile, the group of brawlers that had agreed (some with more enthusiasm than others) to figure out what was going on with Snake, stood awkwardly outside of the man's door. They had knocked more than once, but to no avail. It appeared that he had snuck out when their little group momentarily left the hallway.

After some discussion, Donkey Kong simply leaned against the door, popping it from its hinges. The group spilled into the Spartan bedroom. Among other things, several books were stacked up against the bedside—most of them weapons manuals and war histories, but there were a few novels among them. Sitting upon a small desk was a map of the world, as well as a boxed chess set that still had the card that had accompanied it sitting on top (_'Maybe if you practice, you'll beat me someday! Merry Christmas! – Samus'_). Nothing seemed out of place, save for the pile of clothes that littered the ground by Snake's closet. The bed was neatly made; the lights were off…Nothing suspicious at all. Needless to say, the invaders were more than a little disappointed. Most of them had been hoping for something incriminating, like a gun sitting on the bed, or a notebook with the words 'death to the fire emblem men!' written in red ink on the cover or something.

It was a disheartened group of creatures that shuffled out of the bedroom, only to find themselves face to face with the very owner of the room himself.

"What were you doing?" Snake growled, his voice deathly calm. Behind his back, where nobody could see, he carefully slid the gun that he had been holding into the waist of his pants.

**xXx**

Just around the corner from where Snake stood, a man with black hair leaned up against the wall and smirked to himself as he listened to everything unfold. All according to plan.

**xXx**

**SOME VERY IMPORTANT THINGS!: The ever amazing **_**MessengerOfDreams**_** has written an amazing tie-in chapter for The Game. It's titled **_**The Game: Young Blood**_**. If you like reading this, you'll like that too (It's really really good. Thanks again, MoD!). Go on and give that thing some love, if you've got the time. **

**Another important piece of news is that **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**' epic contest is up and running, and yours truly is helping to judge, along with two other well-known authors. You can find all the rules and stuff listed in novel form (because this IS a writing site) if you search **_**'The Contest For Those We've Left Behind.'**_** :) Once again, if you've got the time, check that out!**

**Now we get to the AN: Man, I'm not sure how long I can keep this up….sooner or later the penny's going to drop for some of you. The penny's already dropped for someone (I was actually freaked out by how fast he got it…XD), but thankfully, he doesn't seem to realize that he got it, and I'm going to be evil again and not say who it was! Have fun guessing though! **

**I think my favorite thing about this whole arc was how you all seemed to pick a side on Oliver. It seems like you either hate him or you love him. :) I'm actually really proud to have created a character that can spark such controversy. XD (Despite the fact that I'm a total Oliver-fan, I actually enjoyed getting all those reviews that said stuff like "DEATH TO THE PSYCHIATRIST" or whatever) And Pit's maturing a lot too…And Roy as well, which is weird, because I was actually trying to keep him as immature as possible, yet he keeps growing up anyway. Weird or what? Ah well. He'll still be the resident idiot for a while longer. **

**And just to calm you guys (and make sure you don't try to kill me), Ike is NOT DEAD(yet)! If I was going to kill him, I wouldn't kill him right off in the beginning of the arc. I'd totally wait until the end. :\**

**Please review! **


	34. Chapter 34: The Assassin pt 4

**Man, you guys are CRAZY. It was only last chapter that I was freaking out about having 350 reviews, and then here on the NEXT chapter, I'm happy about having over 375. This is just ridiculous. You guys are bleeping AMAZING. I have the best reviewers ever! XD (BTW, it was pointed out to me that I've been writing this thing for 6 months. DANG. Those of you who've been here since the beginning, I salute you)**

**On that note, first thanks is to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi**_**; If there was a butler, rest assured he would've done it. XD Beam sword, beam swords…~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; XD Sooo much Pit/Angel fluff…I'm having too much fun. Happy birthday! ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; Don't you love it when the author messes around with you by making something glaringly obvious? XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; It's not Captain Falcon (sorry). He's a racer, right? Not a shooter. ~ Thanks to **_**Skye-Moonknight7913**_**; LOL, Ike's going to be fine. XD Thanks for complimenting Ollie! ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Don't think too much about the bullet, it was just really tall grass. Yep, one half of someone totally saw the guy XD ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; Ah, the suspense! I'm glad I was able to keep it up! ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; Yep, I'm trying to keep the updates coming. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Pk Love Omega**_**; Samus and Marth are totally my favorite couple. XD They're so cute! ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; …Mwahahaha. I've mentioned the dude with black hair before. ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Don't worry, Pit'll still be cute and adorable for awhile yet! ~ Thanks to **_**pikachuandarceus**_**; XD Yes, the penny's dropped for a somebodies already. I'm telling you now that it's not Fox. ~ Thanks to **_**Patchz**_**; Thank you so much! That's one of the best compliments I've ever gotten! ~ Thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; Dude, whether you know it or not, you helped me plan half of this arc. Thanks! :) ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; You'll have to decide for yourself if he's good or not. ;) ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Uhm…I have no comment on your theory. Make of that what you will. XD Thank you so much! I'm really glad my characters have improved! ~ And a final thanks to **_**Leafstar Skyclan**_**; Thank you so much! The end is near, so hopefully everything'll get wrapped up soon!**

**I'm actually apologizing in advance (NOT because I just killed Ike off, although I bet more than one of you just jumped to that conclusion, and if you haven't, then you did now XD) for the lameness of the Wolf/Snake conversation in this chapter. I tried reworking it a few times and couldn't come up with anything decent. Sorry. :\ I needed that scene in there for it to make sense later, but I know it's lame. Forgive me.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.**

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 34: The Assassin: Part 4 **

The remainder of the brawlers who had refused to go to Dr. Stoelhart's office, check out Snake's room, or go to the infirmary had reluctantly found themselves wandering through the dark arena, searching for clues all over again.

"This is stupid," Luigi complained.

"Do you have a better idea?" Mario hissed back as he clambered out from underneath a chair and narrowly avoided whacking his head. "Look, we need to start somewhere. We must've missed something."

"Or the shooter just didn't leave anything behind," Luigi said glumly. "It's pretty hard to find something that's not really there."

"Just shut up and keep looking," Mario snarled. "We'll find something. Nobody's that good. There's got to be something."

**xXx**

Meanwhile, across the complex, Zelda and Sheik stared wordlessly at the office door that had just been shut in their faces. To Oliver's credit, he hadn't slammed it, but it still seemed rude—not to mention out of character for the man who was Pit's idol.

"The guy knows something," Sheik said, crouching down to try and squint underneath the door and peer into the psychiatrist's office.

Zelda was barely listening, all of her thoughts devoted to Link, almost as if she believed that if she thought about him hard enough, she might be able to tell where he is. After a few minutes of this not working, she sagged against the wall bonelessly, her face drawn.

"What?" Sheik asked, wasting no words as usual.

"…It just occurred to me," Zelda said quietly. "That…Dr. Stoelhart told Link to go get something, right? Some sort of staff. That means that he's been wandering out at night for awhile with only Roy for company. They both try so hard to act tough; if a threat came up they'd sooner die trying to face it then live by running away."

Sheik straightened up, her expression still curious underneath the hood of her ratty sweatshirt. "And…?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Zelda cried all of a sudden, jerking her head up to reveal eyes that were sparkling with tears. "Link could be dead, Sheik! They could both be dead, and we just haven't found them yet. If this staff was somewhere in the complex, wouldn't you have thought that they would've found it by now? Something must have happened!"

"You're jumping to conclusions!" Sheik protested, but her words sounded hollow even to her. Truth was, that very same thought had occurred to her before, but she hadn't allowed herself to consider it seriously until now.

"But it would make sense, wouldn't it?" Zelda sobbed. "If the psychiatrist was the shooter? Come on, Sheik, you were thinking it too. He couldn't have come directly to the arena like he said he did, his office is too far away! And now he just admitted that Link and Roy spoke to him recently, and now they're both missing! Maybe they're off on the goose chase that he sent them on for some stupid staff, maybe they're dead, but even if they were off looking for something, wouldn't that work to the psychiatrist's favor as well? Then they'd be out of the way!"

Sheik had to admit this made sense. "So what do we do?"

Zelda thought about it, and then her face hardened as the tears slowly disappeared. Ever since early childhood, she had been taught that while tears had their place, they were unfitting in times of crisis. Thus, she quickly learned to stifle them. "Well," she said, her voice nearly steady. "…I need to go search for Link. Why don't you stay here and try to get some more information from Dr. Stoelhart?"

"But what about the buddy rule?" Sheik couldn't help asking.

Zelda was already running down the hallway, but she slowed enough to answer the question. "If Stoelhart is the shooter, then we don't need to worry about it if he's in his office, do we? So long as he doesn't leave, we're safe."

"But what if he isn—!" Sheik started, but Zelda wasn't stopping, and Sheik seriously doubted that she could catch up to her counterpart. Sheik might be more agile, but Zelda was the faster runner.

So, after realizing that she could do nothing to change the situation, she forced herself not to think about it, and walked back to Oliver's office, only to find the door ajar and light spilling out into the hallway.

_…so long as he's in his office, we don't need to worry…_

How long had he been gone? How long had he been listening to Sheik and Zelda talk? …Where was he?

Her heart falling to the pit of her stomach, Sheik raced the final yards to the doorway and stared blankly into the office.

"_No_ way."

**xXx**

Zelda tied her bathrobe tightly around her waist to keep her nightgown from fluttering around too much as she dashed down the hallway towards the storage rooms. She had decided that this would be the most logical place to keep a healing staff. If nothing else, it would be a place to start.

But as she ran, logic kicked in, and she skidded to a halt. If there had really been a healing staff somewhere in the complex, then surely people other than just Stoelhart would know about it. If it was powerful enough to have Link and Roy running after it in the middle of the night, then wouldn't one assume that the doctors would have gone for it straightaway when Marth and Ike had been hurt?

No, in this case, it made more sense to assume that this staff wasn't in the complex. That meant it would have to be located nearby? But what credible store on Earth could you buy a healing staff at? In Hyrule, you could walk into nearly any store and they would be selling various magical items, but apparently that wasn't how things worked on Earth. So that must mean that Stoelhart had sent Link and Roy to the warp. And considering that he had sent those two, it would make sense that they had either gone to Hyrule or Lycia. Because Zelda had never heard of a healing staff back home, she concluded that Link and Roy had warped through to Lycia, and had either run into problems or were taking longer than expected to get back. Either way, she was determined to join them to see if she could help.

The first thing she noticed when she landed on the grass was how cold it had become. Her breath blossomed in icy clouds in front of her face. The second thing she noticed—or rather, because of this she was unable to notice almost anything else—was the darkness. The sky was completely black, without even a sliver of moonlight to guide her over to the warp. After tripping several times, she stumbled onto it completely by accident. Giddy with her random success, she stepped onto it, assuming that the warp would just transfer her to the last programmed location. She could see Link again in a minute!

...But it didn't work.

Zelda, to her credit, didn't stomp her foot or burst into tears or hysterics or lose her composure at all. Instead, she simply crouched down to inspect the warp pad, looking for some glaringly obvious problem that could be easily fixed. Upon finding none, she allowed herself a sharp sigh and slid off of the pad, running her hands along the sides to find the control panel. None of the buttons she found responded to her probing, and after several minutes she was forced to conclude that the thing was dead.

But the real question was, had Link and Roy gone through? In which case, how could she reach them now? They couldn't come back to this world if the warp was broken!

**xXx**

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" Snake repeated, his voice a quiet purr, like a large cat right before it struck. "Don't tell me you broke in."

Donkey Kong tried to subtly move to shield the broken door, but Snake had already seen the damage.

"What the heck were you doing?" he shouted furiously, losing control all at once. "Looking for evidence? Think that just because I know how to shoot a gun I shot the guys? You're all stupid! Can't you see I'm getting framed for all this?"

None of the smashers had ever seen Snake break out of character like this. His words were flung out sarcastically, one snarled accusation following the next like they were being fired from a machine gun, mowing down any opportunity for anyone to explain. Besides, considering that most of his accusations were true, nobody really wanted to explain anyway.

Finally, Wolf spoke up. "Look, you've been acting weird ever since the shooting, and shouting at us now isn't helping your case!"

"Neither is breaking and entering onto private property!" Snake fired back. "You can use a gun too, but you don't see me busting open _your_ door. Maybe you're really the shooter and you're trying to frame me for it. This'd be a pretty nice way to do it, wouldn't it?"

"As if!" Wolf yelled. "I thought you were smart, but you obviously aren't as clever as you look! Maybe if you looked a little closer, you'd notice that no guns besides yours shoot anything but lasers!"

"Trust me, there's not that big of a difference between the two."

"And how would you know that?" Wolf snapped.

"Everybody knows that there are laser guns in the items arsenal!" Snake pointed out. "Everyone has a basic knowledge of how they work. Anybody could have been the shooter. And yet you all jump to me. Have you ever thought about why that is?"

Everyone fell silent.

"I'll tell you why!" Snake bellowed. "It's because that psychiatrist suggested it! I was the first person he accused!"

"He never said you did it!" Wolf shouted, refusing to let the matter go. "As soon as the angel vouched for you, he let it go. He's as clueless as the rest of us!"

"Oh please," Snake said patronizingly. "He might not have come out and said it, but he tricked all of you into thinking it was me. He's behind this—do you honestly think I'd shoot the same boys I was teaching tricks to last week?"

As the argument erupted with shouted opinions and insults, one unfamiliar voice rang out. Snake was the only one who noticed that the voice didn't belong to any of the smashers, and immediately was able to pinpoint the voice's location to being just around the corner.

However, not everyone else was as observant as he was, and the words that were spoken were so incriminating that nobody had any spare thought space to consider the matter further.

"He's got a gun!" shouted the male voice.

Snake backpedaled away from the smashers, his eyes on the corner where the voice had come from. "Okay, fine," he said as he realized that he would have to address the issue before going after the speaker, and pulled the pistol from his waistband. "I have a gun, but it's not what you think."

"Then what is it?" Wolf demanded. Like everyone else, he had taken an automatic step back when Snake had pulled out the gun, and his eyes were wide underneath their fringe of grey fur.

"It's not even cocked," Snake explained. "Look," he tossed it aside. "It won't help anything if we keep accusing each other."

"It's not accusing if we found our man!" Meta Knight pointed out. "I bet if we looked at that gun, we'd find that it matches the bullets that the doctors found."

"Trust me, it doesn't."

"Then you won't mind hanging out here while we test that," Wolf said, taking a confident step forward to swipe the gun out of Snake's hand.

Snake suddenly found himself face-to-face with Donkey Kong, the largest being in the group, and while he figured that he could take down the ape if he wanted to, he was probably in enough trouble already. Plus, the five or six brawlers standing behind Donkey Kong would prove a bit more difficult if they all attacked at once.

"It wasn't me," Snake insisted one last time as Wolf walked down the hallway with the gun. Snake shot one last, furious glare down at the corner where the person who framed him had shouted from. He caught one glimpse of red fabric, and then couldn't see anything else.

**xXx**

Roy dismounted from the horse that he had 'borrowed' from his father's stables in a small village in Bern. Link came trotting up behind him, choosing to remain mounted on his black stallion rather than walking it, like Roy was with his white mare.

"What are we doing in Bern anyway?" Link asked crossly, shielding his eyes from a nearby torch. After briefly stopping in Roy's hometown and borrowing their two horses, they had ridden hard east and eventually reached this village. "Isn't the entire continent wandering with manges or whatever anyway? Why'd we ride all the way out here?"

"That's mages, not manges. And we're not looking for a mage, we're looking for a cleric," Roy corrected. "And yes, there are lots. But I've been gone for so long, I don't know many nearby well enough to ask them to come help us out. Father has lots of connections and probably knew some back home, but if he knew I were here, and if he knew that Marth had been injured, I don't know if he'd let me go back."

Link listened, but didn't really understand the whole overprotective-parent stereotype. Ever since he was a little kid, he had grown up doing whatever he wanted, and was only told off occasionally by his neighbors. His villagers had become his family, and while they were definitely watching out for him, they would never stop him from doing what was right.

"So…we're going to see a cleric," he clarified. "And she's going to use her magic stick to make Ike and Marth better? This is all assuming we can find a way to get back, of course." His voice was bitter, but Roy managed to ignore it.

"Yep," he said around a huge yawn. "I would ask Guinevere, but I have a feeling she'd be busy. It'll be easier to borrow Ellen for a day."

All of these important-sounding names were making Link's head spin. He had no idea how Roy and other nobles like Marth and Zelda managed to keep track of everyone. "So we're meeting a girl named Ellen?"

"Well, she's not really a girl anymore," Roy answered, still walking his horse down the dimly lit road. "But in essence, yeah. She should still have her healing staff on her, and if we're lucky, she'll still have her warp staff too."

"Say what now?" Link moaned.

Roy took pity on his uneducated friend. "Warp staff. If she has a warp staff, I'm hoping she'll be able to use it to warp us back home."

Link instantly perked up in his saddle. "We can go home?"

"In theory," Roy said.

"You knew there was a chance we'd get home this whole time?" Link cried, his voice echoing across the shuttered streets. "And you didn't think to tell me?"

Roy made a hurried 'shh!' gesture, not wanting to wake up the entire town. "I thought it'd be stupid to get your hopes up. She might not still have the staff; it was a long time ago."

"It's still better than nothing!" Link whooped. "Come on! Let's find this girl!"

**xXx**

While Quincy, Samus, and Lucario were engaged in low conversation over Marth's gurney, Pit remained sitting with Angel against the wall, trying to lift her spirits.

"How long have you been here?" the angel asked.

"I've been staffing here in the summer ever since middle school," Angel said. "I started interning for becoming the announcer just a few months ago."

"Since middle school?" Pit blurted. "Then how old does that make you?"

"Fourteen this fall," Angel answered. "Why?"

Pit beamed. "We're the same then! You, me and Quincy over there." Angel leaned forward to look at the pokemon trainer Pit was pointing at, and something slipped out of her pocket.

"What's that?" Pit asked.

Angel offered it to him for observation. "Just my wallet. It's too big for my pocket though, so every time I bend it falls out."

Pit cracked open the wallet to see exactly what you would expect to see in a teenager's wallet. There were a few five dollar bills several dollars' worth in change. Mixed in were a Canadian five dollar bill and a few Canadian pennies.

"Are you from Canada?" Pit asked innocently.

"No, but my grandmother lives just across the border—about two hours from here. Whenever I leave here to go back to school, my mom picks me up and we go visit her and she likes to take me shopping. I'm actually from New Mexico, but you can't tell. I don't have an accent or anything…" Angel realized that she was rambling and quieted.

Pit smiled. "That's cool. The farthest I've ever been from the complex is Seattle." He flipped open a flap to discover a stack of photographs. "Can I look at these?"

"Sure," Angel said. "You probably won't recognize anyone though."

Pit flipped through several pictures of other teenage girls around Angel's age, a few of an elderly woman who he assumed was her Canadian grandmother, and one shot of a sunrise before he happened upon a photo where he recognized people in.

"Hey, that's the announcer," he said. "Right?"

The man that Pit was pointing at stood in the center of the picture, several inches taller than the group of teenagers and young adults surrounding him. All of the teenagers were wearing black T-shirts with the word 'broadcasting' written across the chest. The adults were wearing red T-shirts that either said 'techie' or 'broadcaster.' Pit had picked out Angel right away by the red streaks in her hair; she was standing almost directly to the left of the announcer, her arms thrown around an Asian woman in a red shirt and American teenager in a black shirt.

"Yep, that's Mr. Simonson," Angel said as she followed Pit's finger. "And the two people I'm hugging are Masako and Liam. We're all in the broadcasting division together."

Pit tore his eyes away from the blonde-haired boy and focused them instead on the announcer, who was wearing his usual black suit and red tie. In the picture, his face wore a slight, self-satisfied smile, and his eyes were sparkling charismatically beneath tidily cut black hair. After looking at the familiar face for awhile, Pit became unable to distract himself any longer. "Are you…" he started out lamely. "I mean…are you…Are you and Liam…together?"

"No!" Angel laughed, her face breaking into a bemused smile as she flushed. "No, we're just friends, but I get that a lot. I've known Liam too long to be his girlfriend, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it," Pit sighed, relieved, as he slipped the photos back into her wallet and handed it back to her.

**xXx**

"So I think Ike should be coming out of surgery soon," Samus was saying, still leaning on the railing of Marth's bed, watching him intently.

_That's good,_ Lucario said, and the pokemon trainer nodded in agreement.

"It'd be nice if the doctors could tell us if he's going to be okay or not, though," Quincy said after a minute, and then shot a glance over at Pit and Angel, who were still sitting up against the wall. "And it'd be nice if that girl actually remembered something instead of moping around like that and getting Pit all distracted."

_Jealous much?_ inquired Lucario.

"No!" Quincy squeaked. "I just think that now isn't the time."

"Go easy on her," Samus said. "It wasn't her fault."

"I was trying to be mean!" Quincy backtracked. "I'm was just…"

_Jealous,_ supplied the psychic pokemon.

"It's not like that!" Quincy argued.

While pokemon trainer and pokemon became more engaged in their argument, Samus quietly detached herself from it to continue looking down at Marth. She knew that everyone was just getting tired, and that was why everyone's patience was so thin, but she was more than a little frustrated herself and figured that getting involved in an argument would just be asking for trouble.

So instead, she just looked down at Marth, watching his eyelids flutter as he dreamt. It was strange to think that just yesterday, she had woken up next to him, and now here they were. On an impulse, she reached down and brushed a strand of blue hair off of his forehead.

As if responding to the touch, he stirred a little in his drug-induced sleep and sighed three words. The first was easy enough to recognize; it was her name. The last two unrecognizable as they were in what Samus suspected was Japanese. Still, it was the first time he had really moved at all since he had been laid down in the gurney…And to think that the first word he had said had been her name…

"Samus…_aishite imasu_."

Samus glanced over at Quincy and Lucario, who were still arguing, and then over at Pit and Angel, who were still talking. "…Did anyone else hear…?" she asked quietly, but no one replied. She smiled quietly for herself. That sentence had been just for her alone. She looked down at the Altean lying in the hospital gurney and wondered exactly what he was dreaming about.

"Wake up soon," she whispered to him.

**xXx**

"No way," Sheik repeated to herself as she looked into Stoelhart's office, and then common sense took over and she raced inside to where Oliver was sprawled across the floor, clutching at his head and moaning.

"Are you okay?" she demanded as she helped him to his knees. He appeared to be dazed, shaking black hair out of his gold-flecked eyes as he struggled to focus. When he moved his hand, he revealed a bleeding scrape on the side of his forehead, like he had been struck with something heavy. Red blood had stained the sleeve of his shirt and smudged into the beige carpet.

"Are you okay?" Sheik repeated as she helped him slump into his desk chair. He mumbled something that may have been a 'yes,' and may also have been a very foul word.

"What happened? When did it happen? Are you really okay?" Sheik demanded, nearly grabbing the psychiatrist's shoulders and shaking him to get the answers she wanted.

He cringed and put a hand to his temple. He opened one eye to peer at Sheik, and then his gaze skipped over to the computer screen. Following his gaze, Sheik noticed that an email file was still open on the screen. She would have to read that later.

"Are you okay?" she shouted, wondering if his hearing had been impaired.

"Yes," he finally answered, reaching out across his desk to grab a wad of tissues to press to the gash on his forehead. "I'm alright."

"What happened?"

He barked out a sarcastic laugh, and then flinched as if the action pained him. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"

"Try the short one," Sheik said, her thoughts flying to Zelda. They now knew that Stoelhart wasn't the shooter—unless he had smacked himself in the head, which seemed unlikely—and now Zelda was wandering around alone with a would-be murderer on the loose.

"Basically," Oliver sighed. "I closed the door after telling you to leave. And then after I turned around, the door opened again, and before I could do anything, the idiot hit me with what I think was the butt of a gun, said 'consider that,' and presumably left because I don't see him around here anymore. I guess he could be hiding in the closet, but…"

Sheik scowled. "Okay, the short version tells me absolutely nothing. Give me the long one."

Oliver smirked and dropped the bloodstained ball of tissues into the garbage. "This could take awhile."

**xXx**

**Snake was horribly OOC, wasn't he? ;_; *sigh* I tried. Sheik and Zelda were a bit OOC too...I'll fix them next chapter. I'm really sorry. **

**Man, I had to do a ton of research on all the Lycia/cleric stuff. I THINK I got it all right, but please correct me if there are any obvious issues. There was someone who requested that I used a specific person for the healing staff, but I looked it up and it turned out to be a mage, not a cleric, and I already said that Roy was going to fetch a cleric. Sorry about that. ;_; (ROY AND LINK ARE COMIN' HOME! (maybe))**

**Ah…Marth and Samus cheese-fest…I couldn't resist slipping that Japanese in there. BTW, I got distracted again (which is why there was a slight delay on this chapter) by MoD's gift-fic and ended up writing a piece mildly based off of it: **_**A Quiet Place.**_** If you like the Marth/Samus pairing, it'd be excellent if you'd check it out (please?). If you want to look at the source piece, check out **_**MessengerOfDreams'**__**The Game: Young Blood.**_

**While I'm promoting things, **_**The Contest For Those We've Left Behind**_** is still open, so check that out too if you're bored and need something to do! :)**

**So I'm thinking that there shouldn't be too many more chapters in this arc…maybe only 1 or 2. Then I can get back to fluff. I got extremely bored the other day and looked up 'Brawl' on deviantart, and now I have all sorts of new ideas (If you like thinking of Marth as straight, I would recommend never doing that—it got creepy around page 12 and now I'm having a hard time taking Marth seriously).**

**Hopefully a few more people have reached the correct conclusion by now(We've had 2 people get it so far!). Please review!**


	35. Chapter 35: The Assassin pt 5

**Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. I seriously went from 356 reviews to 396 within…two chapters. That's ridiculous. I don't believe it. Just…Man. This is so AWESOME. Keep it up!**

**First thanks goes to **_**Sir StarlIl**_**; Uhm…please tell me you were joking about the tuba thing (I worked so hard to make sure that translation was right! *sweatdrop*). Thanks again for the original idea! ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; You'll actually have the answer in this chapter, so sit tight. ;) ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Well, I wouldn't go so far to say that Snake is their friend…XD But still. ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I actually address the FE staff issues (although I basically just made an excuse for why I don't have to deal with them because I'm lazy XD), so I hope it all makes sense. And yes, the Lucario psychic thing was an accident. My bad. :\ ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; Yeah, Marth did say 'I love you.' :) ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; The. Shrink. Knows. EVERYTHING (mwahaha). ~ Thanks to **_**Jaxin;**_** Woot! Person #3 to figure it out. ~ Thanks to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi**_**; Um, no…it's not red velvet (it's silk, but I don't think I ever mentioned it XD). Beam swords…right. ~ Thanks to **_**Eggplant Witch**_**; Man, have you ever seen Captain Olimar cosplay? Creepy stuff. Yay, another Stoelhart fan! You should check out the contest fic—you might find something about you. (wink wink) ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; ah, no problem. The Lucario psychic thing was a typo. Sorry about that. XD Glad you're back. ~ Thanks to **_**Patchz**_**; Um…not Ryu. Sorry. XD The Game's going to go on forever, man. No worries. ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; There was a bit of effort put into this, yes. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondTHEspriter**_**; YOU'RE BACK! *hugs* And you just became person #4 who's figured it out (maybe person #5…I've lost track) ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; You're right on the money about framing Snake. I hope your tournament went well. ~ Thanks to **_**PrincessDiMimi**_**; Woot! Thank you so much! Plus you're person #5 or #6 who's figured it out. ;) ~ Thanks to **_**Pikachuandarceus**_**; YAAAY! Kudos, my friend. #7. ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; whoop, you're right. I address the Captain Falcon issue in this chapter (thanks for pointing that out. I know nothing about the guy XD). Yay! Person #...I completely lost track. ;_; you got it. ~ And a finals thanks to **_**introtothepanic**_**; YAY! Another one! Kudos! **

**Due to the fact that such a huge amount of you figured it out (morphogenetic field or what, eh **_**Sir StarlIl?**_**), I moved the grand reveal up to this chapter instead of the next one. XD So you finally get your answers! Hoorah!**

**Disclaimer: Nobody belongs to me. Also, I mean no offense to Activision or people who play CoD. Last time I had Nintendo as the bad guy, so I figured I'd put another company up as the bad guy this time. I actually like CoD. :\**

**With that, please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 35: The Assassin: Part 5**

"Mario!" Captain Falcon shouted. "I think I found something!"

Mario, along with every other brawler in the stadium, raced over to the captain, who was crouched over a chair, spinning something in-between his fingers.

"What is it?" Mario demanded, just stopping himself from swiping the shiny object.

"It's a shell," explained Captain Falcon. "From a gun. It rolled underneath this seat and I found it. I haven't found the other yet, so I'm assuming that the shooter picked that one up or something and wasn't able to find this one."

Mario examined the shell as it was held out to him, and then looked up at the racer curiously. "That's right; you have a gun, don't you?"

The captain shrugged. "Sure. But I hardly use it, so there's no need to look at me like that."

"He totally did it," Luigi mouthed to his fellow plumber from behind Captain Falcon's back. Mario shook his head, remembering how Captain Falcon and Fox had been the two who dragged Roy into the stadium yesterday—they were nowhere near where Snake said the shot had come from.

"This could be useful," Mario said, slipping the metal cylinder into the pocket of his overalls. "We can check to see if this matches up with the bullets the doctors found."

"And then what?" Luigi—ever the pessimist—interjected. "What good will that do us if we don't have a gun?"

"Oh, we have a gun," called out a new voice. The entire party whirled around to see Wolf standing idly in the staircase, leaning up against a safety rail, holding a black gun up so that it caught the light. "And guess who it belongs to?"

**xXx**

"Time out," Link blurted out all of a sudden, just as Roy raised his fist to bang on the wooden door of what he assured the Hylian was Ellen's house. "I see a problem here."

"Yeah?" Roy said nonchalantly. "And that is?"

"I've seen Marth trying to play his own videogame—which he sucks at—and I think I remember him using his little warp staff thingamajig."

Roy shot him a patronizing look. "Everybody sucks at their own video games. So?"

"So I don't think that your clerics or whatever can warp themselves. Which means that your little Ellen—"

"I think she's taller than me," Roy sighed. "Thus making 'little Ellen' something of a misnomer."

"Kid, everyone's taller than you. Get over it," Link said irritably. Could this guy never shut up? "But my point was that even if Ellen has her warp staff or whatever, she'll only be able to warp the two of us, which leaves us with the tiny problem of your little healing staff, which was the whole reason we came to this place. Not to mention warping the two of us to an entirely different dimension has got to be a huge energy drain, especially with your big head."

"Hey now," Roy rolled his eyes, that annoying expression of superiority still plastered across his face. "Relax; you of all people should know that real life is always a bit different from the video game adaptions. Of course clerics can warp themselves around, what would be the point of a warp staff if you couldn't? There's no problem."

"What about the energy drain issue? If she's too tired from poofing herself, me, and your fat ego across time, space, and who knows what else, how will she be able to heal Marth and Ike?"

"Easy on the fat jokes. As you keep pointing out, I'm smaller than you," Roy whined. "And that's not too much of a problem either. The only thing that staffs do to your body is make you really hungry. You don't really get tired or anything, just really really hungry. We'll get her a bag of Cheetos or something when we get back."

"So…magic gives you the munchies?" Link asked disbelievingly.

Roy laughed. "Pretty much. Come on; do you want to get home or what?"

**xXx**

Zelda was wandering the corridors by herself, wondering where she should go now. Link and Roy were stuck somewhere in Lycia, and she, of course, had no idea that there was a way other than the warp for them to get out. Therefore, she had gotten it into her head that she needed to find someone to fix the warp so that Link could get back.

Unfortunately, the only people who immediately came to mind when she thought of mechanical things were Snake and Captain Falcon. Snake was a prime suspect in the assassination attempt, and although Zelda didn't really think he did it, she still would have been nervous about being alone with him. And then Captain Falcon…after their disastrous attempt at dating nearly a year ago, they had never really spoken. Especially since she had technically still been dating Link at the time, she wasn't eager to remind her fellow Hylian of that particular incident.

So that left…who?

She knew there must be someone. If all else failed, there was probably a techie or a staffer somewhere with basic machinery knowledge. The only trouble would be finding them. Unlike the others, she had never become particularly close to any of the staffers or maids or anything and therefore had no frame of reference to work from. Maybe she should find Quincy to ask him—everybody knew that ever since he met Nya he had become universally accepted into the staffer community.

The main question then became, where had Quincy gone? Had he been with the group going to the infirmary, or the stadium? She couldn't remember.

Zelda was starting to have a hard time thinking straight at all, actually. An all-nighter immediately followed by an assassination attempt followed by another all-nighter which included her boyfriend and his carrot-headed sidekick going missing would be enough to take the energy out of anyone. When she stopped to think about it, she was surprised she had remained upright this long.

Stifling a huge yawn behind her hand, Zelda tried once again in vain to think of anyone she knew who'd know how to fix the warp. That was obviously the first priority. She had to help Link.

Her thoughts spiraling, it took her a moment longer than normal to realize that there was someone else in the dark hallway with her.

"Who's there?" she cried, the hem of her nightgown whipping around her ankles as she twirled around.

"Zelda…" a voice floated from the shadows, just out of her line of sight. The inflections of it were familiar, like she had heard it before.

"Doctor Stoelhart?" she chanced. "Is that you? Come out where I can see you!"

"You think I'm the stupid psychiatrist?" purred the voice, and a soft noise seemed to indicate that he (she could tell that the voice was male) had just taken a step forward. "Silly girl. You were always so pretty too—apparently looks really don't have anything to do with brains."

Zelda instantly became annoyed. "Sir, I don't know who you are, but I order you to come into the light!"

"And who are you to order me?" the voice asked nonchalantly. "It's always been the other way around."

Zelda was tired, out of ideas, and furious at this man for trying to toy with her. "What. Does. That. MEAN?" she screamed, summoning from a familiar well of power inside her and channeling the magic down her arms and into her fingertips, conjuring a small ball of light that she flung in the direction of the intruder.

He batted the light away with the back of his hand, scattering the light into a million tiny fireflies, which immediately winked themselves into nonexistence. But he hadn't been fast enough to stop Zelda from seeing his face.

"…You…?" she whispered, suddenly realizing why her name had sounded so familiar when he said it. "You? But…why? Why would you…?" Nothing made sense anymore.

"It's simple," the man said. "Someone paid me a great chunk of money to do it." Even though Zelda could no longer see his face, she could tell that he was smiling. And she knew without looking that it wasn't the quiet, self-satisfied smile she had come to associate with her memories of this man. This was a sick, insane smile.

"You know," he continued lightly, as if he was speaking about his preference in books. "It was never really about Marth and Ike. It could have just as easily been that idiot of a girl, Angel, or it could have been your precious Link. It just has to be someone. Do you get it? It was never about who I shot—but who got blamed for it."

"You're…You framed Snake and Stoelhart, didn't you?" Zelda said haltingly, unable to process the horrible mental image that had sprung to mind when this man had hinted that it had almost been Link who was shot.

"Do you really think that Snake would miss such an easy shot like that?" the man sneered. "The psychiatrist was a lucky bonus at first, but he caught on too fast. I had to have a quick word with him."

Another horrible thought hit Zelda then: Sheik had been going back to talk to Stoelhart. What if she had been there…?

"Was there someone else in the room when you had a quick word with him?" she whispered.

"Zelda Zelda Zelda," he tutted. "You really are stupid, always worrying about others instead of yourself. There was a chance I'd let you go before you saw my face, but now I can't really. I mean…it's hard to spend my money if I'm locked away in jail, isn't it?"

**xXx**

"Why in the world would I be jealous anyway?" Quincy was complaining. "I mean, Pit's always been more popular than I've been. It's not like it's something new."

Pikachu chirped something from the floor that basically translated to 'I've always liked you more.'

"That's only because I pet you and feed you treats," Quincy sighed. Pikachu twitched in a way that sort of resembled a shrug.

"You're popular in your own way," Samus said. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

The infirmary doors suddenly smashed open, and Sheik stumbled through them, followed by Oliver Stoelhart.

"What happened?" Pit shouted, lurching towards Oliver when he noticed that the psychiatrist's shirt was smudged with blood and his dark hair was matted and sticky with the red substance as well.

"Just a scratch," Oliver said, his eyebrows drawn together in a frown.

"Is Zelda here?" Sheik demanded.

"No," Samus replied. "Why?"

Lucario's amber eyes suddenly widened as it picked up on the thoughts that Sheik was practically screaming.

"What is it?" Quincy asked, picking up on the pokemon's astonishment.

_The shooter is…_ Lucario started.

"IT WAS THE ANNOUNCER!" Sheik shouted, unable to contain it any longer. "You're sure Zelda isn't here?"

The whole room went dead silent, everyone's mouths dropping open to gape.

"W-what?" Angel finally stuttered, her face completely white. "Mr. Simonson?"

Sheik didn't answer as she dashed out of the room to search for her other half. It was only after she left that everyone else found their voices again.

"…It was the…announcer?" Pit asked Oliver weakly. "You're sure?"

Oliver opened his mouth to begin to give the same speech he had given to Sheik back in his office, but before he could get one word out, a blue sphere blossomed in the center of the room. Even to the brawlers, who lived far out of the realm of the ordinary, blue balls of light coming from nowhere in the middle of a hospital were a little on the weird side, and nobody could do anything more than just stare at it in astonishment until it became clear that there were three people revolving inside the ball itself.

"What the fu—" Samus whispered, and then caught the psychiatrist's pointed glare and finished, "—dge. I was totally going to say fudge."

"I'm sure," Oliver said drolly, somehow managing to act like a disapproving old man despite the fact that he was only twenty-six and had a huge gash on his forehead.

While they were quibbling, the three people inside the sphere grew more pronounced and defined, until they eventually popped out of the blue ball itself and onto the infirmary's tile floor in a flurry of limbs and cussing.

"OW!" Link—for of course it was him—bellowed, scooting back and smacking into the dumbstruck Quincy's legs as he clutched at his forehead. "Roy you idiot! Stop kicking me!"

"It's not my fault!" came Roy's voice as he squirmed out from underneath a young lady clothed entirely in white, who was clutching two long walking sticks in her hand, one of which was still glowing a strange blue color that matched the bubble they had all spilled out of.

"…You're back," Oliver finally managed.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Link shouted as he leapt to his feet. "No more tricks—we know you're the shooter! You tried to trap us in Lycia!"

"I'm hungry," whimpered the woman in in white as she dropped both of her staffs to hug her stomach.

"You tried to KILL Marth and Ike!" Link was shouting at Stoelhart, and Quincy and Pit were both shouting that he was wrong, but he wasn't listening. Oliver had backed up a step and held both of his hands in the air, his expression calm as he tried to explain that he wasn't the shooter, but Link couldn't hear him over his own screaming.

Between the shouting and accusations and revelations—not to mention the fact that there appeared to be a nun with severe hunger cramps sprawled out on the floor—Samus didn't quite know what to devote her attention to first.

The choice was made for her when Link finally lost it and leapt for the psychiatrist, knocking the older man off of his feet and into the wall. Pit, with an animalistic howl, jumped onto Link's back. Samus darted forward to separate the three of them, grabbing Link by the hair and Pit by the wings to throw them away from Oliver, who staggered a half step before regaining his balance.

"Think before you jump, you idiot!" Samus shouted at Link after succeeding in ripping Pit off of his back and throwing the poor angle across the room. "Or don't you think at all?"

"He tried to kill us!" Link cried hoarsely, throwing an accusatory finger in Stoelhart's direction.

"I did no such thing," Oliver said, sounding honestly surprised. "What happened?"

"Oh like you don't know!" Link yelled as he made another lunge, but was held back by Samus, Quincy, and a slightly-more-rational Pit. "You busted the warp after we left, or you had somebody bust it for you, so we couldn't get back! You have no idea what we had to do to get back here!"

"I'm assuming, judging by the cleric," Oliver tilted his head towards Ellen, who was steadily working her way through the bag of chips that Roy had found for her. "That you used a warp staff to get back, right?"

"I—" Link started, and then visibly deflated. "So if you didn't do it, who did? Snake?"

"The announcer," Oliver said bluntly. "But that's not the issue now. The real issue is the cleric and the reason she's here. Or have you forgotten about Marth and Ike already?"

**xXx**

Sheik burst in on the stadium just as Wolf finished explaining what had happened with Snake and his gun. "Have you guys seen Zelda?"

"We thought she was with you," Luigi said.

Sheik shook her head, her bangs flipping into her eyes. "No, we got separated. The shooter is still out there, and I need to find her before something happens."

Wolf grinned toothily. "No need to worry about that—I think there's a pretty good chance we've got the shooter in custody already."

"What?" Sheik asked hopefully. "You have Mr. Simonson in custody? How? How'd you know it was him?"

Wolf's expression was dry. "What are you talking about? I'm saying we got Snake. Turns out it was him. All that's left to do is test to see if the bullets and this gun of his match up, and he's nailed."

"No," Sheik growled. "It wasn't Snake. You've got the wrong guy. It was the announcer."

"That makes no sense." Wolf rolled his eyes.

"It makes loads of sense!" Sheik snapped. "He called in 'sick' the day of the shooting even though he hasn't taken a sick leave in twelve years, he's been around the stadium enough that Lucario couldn't pick up a presence, and he attacked Dr. Stoelhart in his office tonight!"

"All those things could go for Snake as well," Wolf said slowly. "I mean, the doctor could be confused about who he saw. Besides, do you see the announcer—Mr. Simon-whatever—around here? No, I don't either. But I do know that Snake's been acting weird lately, and we caught him with a gun. One plus one equals two."

"Snake's been acting weird because Mr. Simonson set him up to get framed for the shootings!" Sheik said. "Can't you see that you're playing right into Simonson's hands?"

"Why would the announcer try to frame Snake? What's the motive?"

"Money," Sheik said as she turned to leave. "Lots and lots of money." With that cryptic remark, she dashed out of the stadium, still in search of Zelda.

**xXx**

"Have you guys heard of Call of Duty?" Oliver was saying as Ellen began healing Marth. Everyone nodded, Link a little more reluctantly than everyone else. Ellen closed her eyes and gripped her healing staff tighter as she reached down to touch Marth's bandaged arm. The staff started to glow white, and steam began to rise from the bandages.

"Ignore that," Roy said. "It's completely normal."

Oliver took Roy's advice and continued speaking. "I've been in email correspondence with the owners of Call of Duty, and they were talking about potentially getting a soldier or whatever into the next reboot of Smash Bros. I told them that Snake was about as close to Call of Duty as we're ever going to get, and that they're wasting their time trying to butt into a Japanese game franchise. I guess they didn't like that, so they moved on from me to start harassing some of the guys higher up in the system. That's actually why they're all on vacation right now—they called a meeting to discuss the issue. When you two"—he nodded over at Link and Roy—"came in, I was writing an email to them explaining that I thought the assassination attempt wasn't really an attack on the Fire Emblem men at all, but really just an opportunity to frame Snake for it. If Snake was out of the way, then our primary excuse would be gone. Not to mention it would show us that the Activision guys mean business."

"But why Mr. Simonson?" Angel breathed, still sounding like she didn't believe it.

"It was just convenient. The guy's been stuck in a dead-end position for years, never advancing. He's got to be pretty annoyed. There wasn't any real reason other than that," Oliver said sadly. "Just money. I did some background on the guy and learned that he likes to hunt in his free time, which would explain his proficiency with firearms."

Angel nodded to herself, lost again in her thoughts. Pit watched her curiously, wondering if he could help.

"I suppose the idea was that Simonson would shoot someone important, frame it on Snake, Snake would be given the boot, and then the Call of Duty guys could step in."

"I don't get it," Quincy said. "What's so special about Brawl? Why'd they want in so badly?"

"You do realize that practically nobody knew about Kid Icarus or Fire Emblem until you guys were featured in the competition, right?" Oliver explained. "It's a huge publicity thing. I obviously caught onto most of this pretty quickly, but I couldn't say anything for awhile."

"Why?" Samus asked, watching Ellen concentrate her powers on Marth's arm, which continued venting steam.

Oliver laughed harshly. "The guy was stalking me. I couldn't step out of my office without him being there with a gun. That was why I was so worried when you guys"—again, he looked over at Link and Roy—"came to my office. Plus, when he saw me talking to Sheik and Zelda, he decided to remind me that he was there." The psychiatrist reached up to touch the scab on his head. "The last time I caught him outside my door, I told him that I'd consider calling the police and live with the consequences."

"Or not," Roy said dryly.

"Exactly," Oliver answered, his voice equally humorless. "Anyway, that's pretty much the whole story. Roy and Link's going off to Lycia for lovely Ms. Ellen here was really more of a side-issue. I had no idea that he'd break the warp so you couldn't get back."

"So…you think Mr. Simonson is still here?" Link said reluctantly.

"Yes," the psychiatrist nodded, and then gasped.

"What is it?" everyone else asked in unison.

"Zelda and Sheik," Stoelhart whispered. "My God, I didn't even think about them. They're wandering out there all alone, and Simonson has a gun."

Link immediately dashed for the door, his thoughts flying to Zelda. The images of Marth and Ike—spinning around and then collapsing suddenly flew through his mind all over again. _Not Zelda, please not Zelda too._ Roy lurched forward in a similar manner, his thoughts obviously on Sheik.

Oliver, surprisingly, whirled on his heel to follow them. "Stay here!" he ordered the remaining smashers over his shoulder. "Lock the doors, and stay here!"

"Okay," Pit said numbly.

Ellen started, and then blinked slowly, coming out of her trance. "I am done," she proclaimed. "His grace mentioned that there were two men who needed healing. Where is the other?"

Quincy, who first appeared startled at hearing Roy called 'his grace,' directed Ellen towards the operating room. Angel had sunk down against the wall, burying her head in her hands. Pit had squatted down her to her and was apparently trying to comfort her. Lucario was trying to stop Pikachu from eating out of the chip bag, and Samus was still leaning up against Marth's bed.

Thoughtfully, she reached down to place her hand on his forehead. It was no longer feverish or clammy underneath her palm. So…was it really over? Surely they would catch Mr. Simonson and that would be that…all that was really left to happen was for Marth and Ike to wake up.

Just as she thought those words, Marth's eyes flickered open. For a moment he looked at her as if he didn't recognize her, but then his lips parted, and an expression of surprise came across his face.

"Sam…?" he asked weakly, his voice soft and hushed. "What the—I…? …Sam? Is that really you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Samus said, moving to take her hand off his head. He shifted a little underneath the blankets, and his right hand—the one that the doctors said he wouldn't be able to use anymore—snaked up from the covers to cover her own hand.

"Don't leave," he pleaded. "I'm…just a little confused at…the moment."

"I won't leave," she promised.

"Hey Samus," he said quietly, a slight frown creasing his face. "This sounds crazy, but…I think I was shot."

"You were," she said nonchalantly. "But it's not a big deal. Roy found a cleric to heal you, so you're all better now."

"Ah." Marth nodded like this explanation made perfect sense to him—which, considering that he was an Altean—it probably did. "And…this is going to sound even crazier…but I think…I think the announcer was the one who shot me. I sort of saw him when I fell over…I think…"

"Yeah," Samus said mildly. "We know about that too. Don't worry about it. The guys are chasing him down as we speak."

"Huh. I guess I missed a lot." He smiled up at her. "Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you…stay with me?" he asked again. "I'm still…very tired. And I was having such a wonderful dream…So, could you stay…until I fall back asleep?"

"Of course," Samus said with a smile. And she did stay with him until the hand covering her own relaxed again.

**xXx**

"You know, I always liked you," Mr. Simonson said to Zelda as he reached around his red tie into his jacket…

"So it's unfortunate…"

…and pulled out a gun.

**xXx**

**Dun dun duuuuuuuuun. It was the announcer! I hope it was suspenseful enough for everyone who hadn't figured it out already, and I hope it was satisfying enough for everyone who did get it to know that they were right. XD Anyway, only one more chapter in this arc to wrap things up (…and kill Zelda and Ike off—did I say that out loud? Oops! Mwahaha. Oh c'mon, don't look at me like that; I need to keep SOME suspense up until this thing ends, don't I?)**

**Spell check just told me how to spell 'mwahaha.' How strange is that. Anyway…Ellen had a tiny role, didn't she? And I totally ignored the traditional rules of FE warping, but whatever. Hopefully my explanation was adequate for anyone who's played FE. **

**MARTH HAS AWOKEN. I needed to write some Marth/Samus fluff, and I was trying to figure out if there's any rhyme or reason that causes him to switch from calling her Samus to Sam and back again…The only explanation I can come up with is that when he thinks about it, he calls her Samus, and if he's not thinking clearly he'll revert to Sam. XD **

_**The Contest For Those We've Left Behind**_** is still open, people! Plus, we just posted a new chapter to clear up some questions, so if you're at all confused, then check that out! **

**Please review! :)**


	36. Chapter 36: The Assassin pt 6

…**I have no words anymore. Seriously; 31 reviews in 1 day. You guys are nuts.**

**First thanks goes to **_**piplupfan580**_**; Um, not Zelda! Someone else maybe. XD ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Gotta love/hate CoD, don't you? XD Yes, you've reviewed A Quiet Place (thank you!). ~ Special thanks to **_**Sogo**_**; YOU GOT AN ACCOUNT! Woot! See? I updated! Keep her cooking away from me! ~ Thanks to **_**introtothepanic**_**; There's definitely murder in this one. XD thanks for pointing out the typos, I'm terrible at catching them. ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; I do love writing the Fire Emblem men. They all have such distinct personalities. XD ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; It's not Zelda, no worries. It's just someone else. (mwahaha) ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; Yeah, her moves do kind of make it hard to shoot, don't they? ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; Your review made me laugh. It was awful and I shouldn't have, but I did all the same. XD And yes, this arc got much darker than I expected. Sorry. :\ ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; Ooh, I sort of want to bring him in…I'll have to do some Black research. ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; …CoD was just the first shoot'em up game to pop into my head. No deep meaning. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Heaven forbid I write something that could actually happen, ne? Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**Eternal Nocture**_**; I don't know if you've made it up to this point yet, but thanks for all the reviews! ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; …I would never kill Zelda. I might kill someone else though. XD No, I've never read Soundwave, but I'll check him/her out. Sir StarIlI actually helped me come up with the announcer idea. XD ~ Thanks to **_**pikachuandarceus**_**; Yeeeah….I got addicted to the all caps button. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Pk Love Omega**_**; Oh the suspense! ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondTHEspriter**_**; You are loved. There's no limit for the contest, it just has to be done by the deadline. ;) Hershel did work his butt off on this one. ~ Thanks to newcomer (or oldcomer) **_**redhazeKJ**_**; Mission accomplished. (jk, jk) Thanks for sticking with it since the beginning! There will be some Z/L fluff soon! ~ Special uber thanks to **_**Sir StarlIl**_**; LOL, Ollie would totally pwn if he had a clipboard, wouldn't he? That was a hysterical mental image, thank you. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Ah, but I love replying to reviews! I don't mind. XD Marth totally fails at FE. I don't think he got past the prologue yet. ~ Thanks to **_**StgPeppersLHCB**_**; Well, sort of. I hope it turned out okay. :\ ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! ~ Thanks to **_**PrincessDiMimi**_**; My updates are either super speedy or…three weeks in-between. XD That's how I roll. ~ And a final thanks to the very special **_**angel**_**; Behold the fluff! Angel's going to be a permenant fixture for now, so you get to enjoy reading about yourself….That sounds so weird. Sorry. XD**

**Oh my Lawd (alternate spellings FTW). I have so many reviewers. XD But I like replying, so I don't mind. Please keep it up, even as this arc comes to a close!**

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, and I apologize for casting CoD as the bad guys…I play CoD infrequently (and I suck)—no disrespect or anything intended. :\ **

**Man, I really earn my T-rating with this chapter. Just be forewarned. Somebody dies via a handgun. :\ **

**Please read, (maybe?) enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 36: The Assassin: Part 6 **

"ZELDAA!" Link screamed, but he got no reply except his own voice echoing back to him. Next to him, Roy hadn't paused to yell and just kept running, his bright eyes frantically scanning the side corridors for any sign of Sheik. Behind him came Oliver Stoelhart, who was managing to keep up with the two teenagers fairly well and was only panting a little. He slowed a little and cupped his hands around his mouth to shout, "Sheik, Zelda! If you can hear me, call something back!"

Once again, there was no reply.

Link cussed, horrible mental images flashing unbidden into his head. It was bad enough having to remember Marth and Ike, who Link personally thought of as his brothers, lying completely unresponsive in that pool of blood without imaging Zelda lying alongside them.

"She's fine," he whispered fiercely to himself. "She's got to be." His head snapped up, the fire back in his eyes as he sprinted to catch up with Roy. "ZELDA! Come ON! _ZELDAAA!_"

**xXx**

Wolf, accompanied by the group from the stadium, trooped miserably back to Snake's bedroom, where Donkey Kong was still standing watch over the man himself, who was now sitting on the floor, looking resigned and bored.

"Let me guess," he sneered when he noticed Wolf's furious expression. "They don't match at all, do they?"

Wolf vented his anger by throwing Snake's gun down on the ground as hard as he could. Thankfully, the safety had been on, so there was no accidental misfiring. "You got lucky," he snarled. "The guys said you own the gun that the bullets were from though. Where is it?"

Snake shrugged as he picked up the gun to stick it back into the waistband of his sweatpants. "How should I know?" The harsh tone had left his voice, leaving him with his usual monotone. "Usually my guns are locked up in the weapons locker. You know that."

Wolf made a distasteful noise. "Well, that gun's gone missing, idiot."

Snake scowled at his bedroom door, which was completely off of its hinges and leaning up against the wall. "Well, considering that you've searched my private property already, I don't think there's much else you can do, unless you want to do a strip search. And even if you do, I promise you won't find anything unusual, so why bother?"

Wolf opened his mouth, and then closed it again, growling curses to himself. Snake allowed himself one smirk, and then struck out down the hallway at a crisp walk, disappearing into the darkness.

**xXx**

Unknown to the three men searching for her, Sheik was actually almost on the exact opposite side of the complex from where they were looking. Still wearing the grey hoodie sweatshirt and shorts, she ran through the corridors, her ash blonde hair flying out behind her, for once thankful for her strong endurance as she raced laps up and down hallways and in and out of rooms.

"ZELDA!" she shouted with the last gasp of air in her lungs, and then paused to double over and catch her breath. When the sharp throb in her ribs receded to a dull ache, she struck out again.

As she rounded a corner, she heard a sharp BANG! that she instantly recognized as a gunshot. Her heart lurched, and she flung herself down the hallway and around two more corners before finally bursting into the scene.

Zelda was surrounded by a spinning magical diamond, and a bullet was rolling around lazily on the ground by her feet, flaring with a blue light occasionally as it caught the light of one of her magical sparks. She looked exhausted, her hair falling out of its pins and clouding her eyes. Just down the corridor and directly in front of Sheik—was Mr. Simonson. She could only see the back of his shoulders, but she could tell by the set of them and by the way the hand holding the handgun was completely steady that he was dead serious. At the moment, he hadn't noticed her, although her heart was beating so loudly that she was surprised he couldn't hear it. She had always hated guns—they destroyed the idea of a fair fight. It didn't take a whole lot of skill to pull a trigger. The idea of aiming a machine like that at another animal (or human) disgusted her.

Without really pausing to think about it, she flung herself at the announcer, not even considering the fact that she was at a huge weight and height disadvantage or the fact that she had no weapons on her at all.

"SHEIK!" Zelda cried, magic swirling around her face and hands.

Zelda's un-magical counterpart was long past hearing, clinging to Simonson's back as she was, trying to drag him down to the ground despite him weighing almost eighty pounds more than her, raking at any exposed piece of skin she could get at with her nails. In a lucky kick she managed to knock the gun out of his hand, but she knocked it backwards, where Zelda couldn't get to it. In the same kick, her heel struck his groin, and Simonson dropped to his knees.

To his credit, the announcer recovered quickly and used his revised position to fling Sheik over his shoulder. She crashed bodily into the wall and started to scramble to her feet, only to hear the cool click of the gun being cocked again as Simonson picked it back up.

"…Another one?" he sighed, limping back towards the two girls. His cheek was striped from Sheik's nails, one of the cuts going deep enough to bleed. "I'm going to run out of bullets. But I have to ask, Sheik," he said pleasantly, keeping her from moving simply by pointing the barrel of his handgun in her direction. "How did you find out? I thought I covered myself pretty well, you know, but that makes three of you now who've figured it out, although Zelda here doesn't really count seeing as she just happened to run into me."

Zelda clenched her teeth, wondering if there was any way to protect Sheik and herself at the same time. She didn't think she could throw out two strong shields at once. No, there was no way to do it without sacrificing Sheik, and that wasn't going to happen—So…there was nothing she could do!

"I mean, you realize I'm going to have to kill you now, right?" Simonson continued conversationally, still breathing a little heavily from their scuffle. "The whole point of this is to frame Snake, after all, so I can't have you running around saying I did it." He held out the gun to show it off. "See? This is his. Convenient, isn't it? Don't you think that was clever?"

"Sure," Sheik growled, her red eyes blazing as she glared up at her gunman. "So you're just going to kill me now, right? And then what? You can't shoot Zelda, she's got shields."

"I'll find a way," Simonson assured her. "Anything else you'd like to say? Last words or something?"

"Yeah," Sheik snapped. "You should've killed the shrink instead of just whacking him over the head. He told me everything, and by now he's probably told everyone else as well." She smiled softly. "Don't you think that was clever?"

"Sheik!" Zelda shouted, magic floating around her head like some otherworldly crown. "Stop it! He shot Marth and Ike, do you think he won't shoot you?"

"Yeah he shot the guys, and he missed, didn't he?" Sheik yelled back, easing herself back up onto her feet. Her eyes were a bloody red as she took a proud step towards the announcer. "And you know what? He's not going to shoot me, because I'm going to get to him first."

"Hah," Simonson smirked. "You think you can dodge a bullet now, ninja-girl?"

"You shot Ike," Sheik said, and her voice wasn't laced with any menace now. It was dull, quiet—and somehow that made her seem even more menacing. "And I won't let you go for that."

Simonson rolled his eyes and sighed through his nose. "Always so melodramatic," he complained, and then pulled the trigger of his handgun once.

The gun roared.

"SHEIK—NO!" Zelda screamed as her counterpart was flung back against the wall by the impact and crumpled to the floor. "No…no…please, no…"

"SHEIK?" came Roy's voice from around the corner. "Sheik, where are you?"

"No!" Zelda cried. "No, Roy, go away! Leave!"

"Zelda?" called Link. "Zelda! Where are you? Is Sheik there too?"

Zelda's eyes were drawn down to where Sheik lay, and she suddenly couldn't find her own voice. She knew that if she didn't say something, then Link would walk right into Simonson's line of fire, but she couldn't say anything. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. It was like her whole world froze the moment the gun had fired. The moment it had fired into Sheik.

Link and Roy suddenly burst into the hallway, their faces flushed from running all over the complex. Zelda was too dazed to really even realize that they were back, much less that they were still wearing their full costume.

Oliver Stoelhart, of all people, ran into the hallway after them and skidded to a stop as well, his green-gold eyes flicking from Zelda to Sheik to Simonson.

Roy had just noticed Sheik lying on the ground and lurched forward, his feet shuffling across the ground until he collapsed on his knees next to the fallen girl.

Simonson hardly noticed him at all, for his hard eyes were fixed firmly on Stoelhart. "You," he snarled. "You ruined this."

Oliver didn't even honor the announcer by making eye contact. Instead, his eyes were on Roy, who was doubled-over, clutching at his own shoulders in an attempt to keep his emotions in check, a sound somewhere between a sob and a moan escaping from his mouth.

"If you hadn't told anyone…!" Simonson shouted. "Then this would never have happened. I would've gotten away, Stoelhart! This is your fault, _your_ fault! This is all your fault! You killed these people, not me!"

"You know," Oliver said sadly, still watching Sheik intently as if he expected her to stand back up again. "I really hate it when people say things like 'your fault' or 'I didn't do it.' It's irresponsible." He finally looked up at the announcer, his face blank. "That's all I have to say."

"WAIT!" Link and Zelda both shouted in unison as they realized what was about to happen.

"You could have prevented this," Simonson said bitterly, leveling the gun at the psychiatrist's chest. "You know that, don't you?"

"_Quisque moritur_," Oliver Stoelhart said quietly, closing his bright eyes.

Simonson's face hardened. His hand flexed on the trigger…

Link tried to fling himself in-between the announcer and the psychiatrist with a hoarse scream, but Oliver shoved him away. Zelda jumped forward, her mind unclear as to what she was going to do, but a hand came down on her shoulder, stopping her.

A gun fired, the noise earshattering in the small hallway. A second gunshot followed the first, and Dr. Oliver Stoelhart snapped backwards—as if he had been punched with a giant hand—and toppled to the ground, screaming in pain.

**xXx**

Roy had been mostly unaware of all the chaos occurring behind him. It was like an invisible wall had been raised between him and the rest of the world, shutting him off in this quiet corner with Sheik.

His mind spiraling, he had sunk to the floor next to her, fighting back tears that blurred his vision at the sides and made his chest tight. The feeling was indescribable; it was as if someone had plunged a knife into his heart, it was like someone had smashed some very important part of him, and he was desperately trying to hold all the pieces together.

"Sheik," he moaned, feeling none of the usual thrill he got from speaking her name simply because he doubted she could hear it. "Shiek…?"

And then, miraculously, she managed to open her eyes. Her eyebrows came together. "Roy? Is that you?" Her voice was pained, but not terribly so. Roy hoped that she didn't feel anything. For her sake, he hoped that she didn't. He had forced himself not to look down at the terrible wound, but now he found his eyes glancing down there of their own accord. His stomach flipped nauseously—

—But there was _no blood_.

"…Huh?" Roy heard himself say dumbly.

Sheik winked at him; the expression was so nonchalant in such a dangerous situation that Roy couldn't really comprehend it. As further explanation, she tugged down the hem of her sweatshirt to her collarbone, revealing the edge of what appeared to be some sort of thick, armored vest.

**xXx**

The echoes from the twin gunshots slowly faded away, but the expressions of bewilderment on Link and Zelda's faces didn't leave.

The announcer was lying facedown in the hallway, the gun dropped from his slackened hand. A puddle of dark liquid was starting to pool around his chest.

Stoelhart was bloody as well, but he was no longer screaming. Instead, he had managed to sit up on his own and was now glaring furiously at his shoulder, which was slick with blood. "Of all the places," he wondered aloud, his voice tight with pain.

"We should get you to the infirmary, Doctor," came a gruff voice from behind Zelda. Link looked up from the ground where he had fallen after Stoelhart had pushed him, feeling as if his mouth couldn't open up any wider as he gazed upon _Snake_, who had flicked the safety back on his smoking pistol and shoved the thing back into his pants.

Calm as can be, Snake brushed past the frozen Zelda, stepped lightly over Simonson's limp body, and then waltzed his way over to Stoelhart, his expression more than a little smug. "Can you stand?"

Stoelhart was still muttering to himself. "I'm wearing a bulletproof vest, for crying out loud, but would he do me one favor and actually shoot me in the vest? _Nooooo._ Of course not. He has to go shoot me in the bloody shoulder!"

"Bulletproof vest?" Link squeaked disbelievingly. "And Snake? Did you shoot Simonson?"

Snake nodded, and then finally seemed to realize that Zelda was still in shock. "Look," he tried to explain. "His gun was loaded, I thought he had just killed two people and he had an easy shot at three more. What was I supposed to do?"

"So he's…dead?" Zelda whispered.

Snake squatted down thoughtfully next to the body and gave it a quick once-over. When he stood up, he shrugged. "Yeah, he's dead. It was such an easy shot—I couldn't have missed if I tried." He looked over at Oliver. "Should I be getting rid of the gun or something? Destroy the evidence and all that?"

"The fact that you shot him when the gun wasn't pointing at you is going to complicate things," Oliver said, somehow managing to keep his voice steady despite the blood seeping from his shirt. "But I think we'll be fine. Now could we please get to the infirmary?" A slight pleading tone had entered his voice. "If the cleric is still here, I'd like to have her fix me up before I have to go into surgery or something awful like that. Come on, Link, give me a hand…Snake, you too."

"Bulletproof vest?" Link repeated. "You're serious."

"He's serious," Sheik said breathlessly as Roy gently helped her stand up. "And those things really work too. That guy shot me at point blank and all I think I have is a bruise."

Zelda's mind was reeling. She felt like she didn't understand anything. "…Cleric?"

"Looong story," Link said with a grunt as he slid an arm underneath the psychiatrist's shoulder and helped Snake gently lift him to his feet. Roy, Zelda, and Sheik trooped dazedly after them, all of them unfortunately so calloused to dead bodies that they hardly gave Simonson a second glance as they exited the hallway.

**xXx**

"So, to summarize the whole thing," Marth said at length after everyone had eventually gathered in the infirmary and told their side of the story. "Basically, Activision has been harassing our resident psychiatrist for a few weeks about getting a Call of Duty guy into Brawl. That's how all this started, right Dr. Stoelhart?"

Oliver, who had obligingly unbuttoned his bloodstained shirt to let Ellen get at the gunshot wound, which she was now looking over, nodded and then cringed as Ellen—with the help of a real surgeon—finally extracted the bullet and began to heal.

"So, because you wouldn't let the soldier in willingly, they resorted to other tricks. Namely, shooting a well-known brawler or two like Ike and myself,"—Marth gestured over at Ike with his chin. Ike had emerged from the operation room only several minutes after Ellen had walked in there with her magical staff, and while he and Marth were both noticeably paler than usual, they were both standing without assistance and appeared to be without pain.—"and then attempting to frame Snake, the only person here well known for using a gun, for the accident by using one of Snake's guns that he stole from the weapons locker. Because the announcer has been around this stadium for as long as the rest of us, Lucario was unable to pick up any sort of aura, which led—as Simonson undoubtedly planned—to us questioning one another, which eventually led to people coming to the conclusion that Snake did it. Last evening, Link and Roy went to Stoelhart because they wanted to find a way to heal Ike and myself. Dr. Stoelhart, at this point, was being actively stalked by Simonson and his gun, so he quickly sent off Link and Roy to Lycia for a cleric and a healing staff. Unknown to the doctor, Simonson probably followed them down there and shot the warp device after they went through, presumably trapping them in Lycia. Snake could, in theory, have been blamed for that as well. Meanwhile, everyone else was getting anxious and decided to split up and accomplish different goals. Wolf's group went out and actually accused Snake, although Simonson had already anticipated this and framed Snake even further. Then Simonson left that corridor and accidentally ran into Zelda, who had been separated from Sheik when the two of them mistook Dr. Stoelhart for the shooter."

Marth paused for breath, but continued on almost immediately. "Meanwhile, Dr. Stoelhart was informing Sheik of everything that had happened, and before starting out in their search for Zelda, they both went down to the weapons locker to confirm that one of Snake's guns was missing, and in there they also decided to take two bulletproof vests, right?"

Sheik nodded. Her vest lay in the corner; a small hole punched in the center of it. She had a large bruise on her abdomen, but was otherwise unharmed.

"They then started looking around, starting first in the infirmary. While they were there, Link, Roy, and Ellen returned, and Ellen healed me and Ike. Sheik left without the psychiatrist noticing, and when he noticed he, Link, and Roy went looking for him, but they took the wrong fork in the hallways and ended up on the wrong end of the building. Meanwhile, Wolf and Captain Falcon had basically proved that Snake was innocent, so they let him go. Going back to Simonson and Zelda…"

"This is confusing," Quincy complained, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Bear with me, kiddo, I'm almost done," Marth said with a grin. "Sheik engaged Simonson and was shot in the chest in the process. The impact knocked her into the wall, where she struck her head and blacked out, causing everyone who didn't know about the vests to believe she died. In this time, Dr. Stoelhart, Link, and Roy came on the scene. Stoelhart—believing he was safe because of the vest—"

"It was a stupid mistake, I admit it," Oliver sighed wearily as Ellen pronounced him healed.

"Yes, it was," Ike said. "Never assume you have the advantage. It makes you cocky."

"Point taken," Oliver nodded, massaging his previously injured shoulder.

"_Anyway,_" Marth said. "Around this time, Snake—who had been searching for Simonson, came down the hallway after hearing all the shouting and, when he saw Simonson pointing the gun at the doctor, proceeded to shoot him. When shot, Simonson's finger reflexively tightened on the trigger, causing the gun to fire into Dr. Stoelhart's shoulder. Sheik then woke up, and everyone eventually found their way back here. Did I leave anything important out?"

"Yeah, actually," Link spoke up. He and Roy, still in their costumes, stuck out in the group of pajama-clad brawlers who had somehow all managed to squeeze into the small infirmary room. "This one's for the shrink."

Oliver looked up curiously.

"The main reason we all wondered if you were the shooter at first was because you said you came straight to the arena from your office," Link said. "But your office is too far away. Where'd you come from? That's the only thing I still don't get."

Oliver looked up at the ceiling as he cast his thoughts back. "Well…to be honest, I was down in the weapon's locker. I had received an alert that someone had broken in, so I went down to see what had been stolen."

"Why didn't you tell us that right away?" demanded Mario. "It was important!"

"Because I honestly didn't know who shot Marth and Ike at that point," Oliver admitted. "I knew that Simonson had been bribed by Activision, but I had no way of knowing if he was working alone or not. I had no suspects, I had no legitimate leads at that point, and I didn't want to let on that I already knew that the weapon had been stolen. I panicked and I lied—I'm sorry."

"So, you suspected us?" Roy asked, horrified. "How could you?"

"How could _you?_" Oliver answered immediately, his voice calm as he rebuttoned his shirt. "Face it, everyone suspected everyone at one point or another. I don't think there's anybody here who can say that they knew that it was Simonson directly from the beginning."

"Actually…" Marth and Ike said in unison, and then Ike blinked, startled.

"What?" Sheik, who had been standing next to him, asked. "What is it?"

"Ganondorf knew…" Ike said at length. "When Marth and I turned around, we saw Simonson. But because Ganondorf was facing us, he would've seen him too. But he never said anything, did he?"

There was a long, awkward silence as everyone scanned the room, only to realize that Ganondorf was the only one not there.

"That lousy, sinking sack of _—!_" Link cussed. "I'm going to kill him! We could've avoided all this! We all almost died, thanks to that sick sonuva—"

While Link vented his anger by kicking at the wall, Pit quietly slipped over to Angel's side. She had remained mostly silent ever since Ike had woken up, but her face was tearstained as she looked up at Pit.

"What?" she said thickly.

"You okay?" was the best thing Pit could come up with to say, and even to him it sounded shallow and stupid.

She obviously thought it sounded shallow and stupid as well, because she didn't even humor him with an answer. She just turned her head away and shrugged listlessly.

Pit looked at her for a moment, and then took a hesitant step forward, wrapping both arms gently around her shoulders. She started when he touched her, and then relaxed. Neither of them said anything, but neither one tried to move away either.

Sheik, who had been clinging to Ike's shoulder almost ever since she had walked through the infirmary door, broke off of him momentarily to go talk to Roy, who had been standing at the edge of the group and looked rather lonely.

"Hey," she said to him. He looked up at her and offered a weak smile, his blue eyes dull, and then looked away. "Hey," she repeated, stepping into his field of vision again. "You know something? When I woke up after hitting my head, the first thing I saw was you."

"So?" he asked, his voice slightly constricted.

"So you thought I was dead," she said quietly, "And you were crying."

"Was not!" Roy exclaimed indignantly, a bright flush creeping into his cheeks. "I don't cry, Sheik!"

"You were," Sheik insisted. "You were crying because you thought I was dead, and…That made me really happy, Roy."

He looked up at her then, his face boyish and surprised, and suddenly Sheik remembered exactly what she had once loved about that face, back in Melee. She remembered how she used to love how his eyes lit up whenever she spoke to him, she remembered how she had loved his easy smile, she remembered laughing at his faked seriousness, and then cracking up when he was unable to keep a straight face any longer.

And she realized…that maybe she still loved all of that still. Just a little.

Marth, who was using Samus' shoulder sort of like a pedestal to lean upon (which Samus didn't appreciate), watched Sheik speak to Roy with a frown, and then glanced over at Ike, who was watching them as well. "Do you mind?" Marth eventually couldn't help asking. "That they're talking like that?"

Ike laughed. "I've said it before and I'll say it again; Sheik is free to pick whoever she wants. I'm just happy for the time I get to spend with her, you know? I mean…when I got shot, I didn't think 'oh-no' or anything like that. I just thought, 'oh well.' I thought 'I've lived my life pretty well so far. Sure it'd be nice to have a bit longer, but I'm fine dying now.'" Ike shot a glance in Marth's direction. "What about you?"

Samus looked up curiously as Marth debated his answer.

"Well, I didn't exactly think 'oh-no' either," he said at length. "My thoughts were more along the lines of 'I can't be dying. They'll find some way to save me.'"

"You know that neither of you were actually dying, right?" Samus sighed. "Marth got hit in the _arm._"

"Yeah, well I didn't exactly know that at the time!" Marth said hotly. "You try getting shot with a bullet someday and let me know if you don't think that you're dying."

Link finished kicking the wall, walked over to Zelda, and suddenly grabbed her up in a hug, actually lifting her feet off of the ground.

"What was that for?" she asked breathlessly when she set him down.

He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders. "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again!" he laughed. "You have no idea how badly you scared me, wandering around alone and getting shot at like that!"

"Then don't you ever run off like that again without telling me!" she shouted back, and then flung her arms around his neck, grabbing hold of the familiar fabric of his Hylian tunic. He held her close, a relieved smile on his face.

Oliver, who had been watching the entire romantic scene blossom with a look of subtle amusement, turned to Snake, who was standing lazily up against the wall.

"Teenagers," Snake sighed tiredly. "Whatcha gonna do?"

"Observe," Oliver answered. "Just like I always do."

Snake raised his eyebrow a notch. "You deserve a raise."

"I deserve a nap," Oliver moaned, falling back onto the cot he had been sitting on. "But, of course, the blasted paperwork must come first."

"Soldier on," Snake quipped, and then peeled himself off of the wall and quietly left the infirmary, leaving the rest of the brawlers to celebrate without him.

Oliver smiled happily up at the ceiling. "Soldier on…Just like always."

**xXx**

The Super Smash Brothers announcer lay underneath a white sheet in the hallway. The sheet had been placed there by several brawl staffers, and plans were already being made to have the body removed and buried. There was to be a proper ceremony, which all of the brawlers would attend, the next day. But for now, Mr. Simonson simply remained underneath the white sheet. In the end, his gravestone would read: _Quisque moritur; _everybody dies.

**xXx**

Snake walked back to his bedroom as the first tinges of sunlight started to peek through the windows, absently wondering how he was going to sleep without a door. Just as he was about to try and fix the door himself, Ganondorf's door opened, and the huge man stepped out with a yawn.

Stretching, he proclaimed, "I had a decent night's sleep for once. I assume things got rather exciting after I went to bed, though."

Snake crouched down to examine the hinges. "You could say that."

"Has anyone else been added to the body count?" Ganondorf asked nonchalantly. "How did poor Marth and Ike fare the night? Do we have any funerals to attend?"

"They're both fine," Snake answered. "So is everyone else. The shooter is dead, however, so you'll probably have to go to that one."

"That said, I'm assuming it wasn't you after all," Ganondorf said dryly.

"No," Snake replied curtly as he positioned his door back into place. "Although you would've known that already, right?"

Ganondorf smiled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Snake shrugged, and then stepped into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

**xXx**

**A/N: I reeeally hope I got those Latin words translated right…(Huh? Ollie speaks Latin? Of course he speaks Latin! He's Oliver Stoelhart! (did anyone besides me notice the play on words in his last name?))**

**So I bet I freaked a few people out with this chapter huh? I do believe I heard Oliver's line about 'I'm wearing a bullet proof vest, so he shoots me in the shoulder' somewhere before, but I can't remember where. :\ Either way, I borrowed that one. Anybody know where that line comes from? **

**Was Ollie really in the weapons room, or was he lying about that too? (mwahaha) I truly love Oliver; he's slightly insubstantial, so I feel like I can mess around with him a bit. XD Plus the whole Ike/Sheik/Roy love triangle made a bit of a comeback…I haven't written about that in a while. **

**Aaaah…it's over. This was the most complicated arc I've done so far, and I had way too much fun with it. I hope it all fit together in the end and I hope I didn't leave anything important out…*sigh***

**Anyway, next chapter is back to one-shots: BEAM-SWORDS! "Link, I am your father!" It's gonna be great.**

**BTW, the Contest For Those We've Left Behind is still open!**

**Please review! (and pardon any typos-I didn't really edit this one-I'm in a hurry)**


	37. Chapter 37: BeamSwords

**BACK TO ONE-SHOTS! Where nothing dies! Woot. To top it off, I hit 450 reviews, right on the nose. That never happens. XD Thank you all so much!**

**First thanks goes to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; Yay! You answered all the questions! Ganondork's just evil. Nuff said. ~ **_**Thanks to RawkHawk2.0**_**; Ike has been rejected. XD Roy/Sheik FTW (maybe). ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Yep. One shots are back in all of their one-shot-y goodness. XD ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; LOTS of Star Wars references. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Sogo**_**; ….*cough* I have no comment. BAH! I need to work on the desk, don't I? ~ Thanks to **_**DarkBloodPhoenix**_**; Sheik lives! And there will be much foolishness. Don't you worry. ~ Thanks to **_**introtothepanic**_**; Whoop, thanks for being on typo-alert. XD I'm so bad at catching them. ~ Thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; XD Don't you hate it when you get interrupted during something intense? I'm glad the translations were okay! *sigh of relief* ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; Dude…that is the awesomest pun ever. Marth Vader…LOL. ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Wow…this is turning into something like a webcomic, isn't it? Or a sitcom…XD ~ Thanks to **_**redhazelKJ**_**; We can be messed up girls together. I love violence. Thanks for submitting to the contest! (woot!) ~ Thanks to **_**LinkPlaidTunic**_**; …I never actually plan more than a chapter or two in advance (procrastinators FTW!), so I'm sorry to say that I have next to no idea what's coming next (that's half the fun of writing this thing!) XD ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; YAY! I'm so glad you like Ollie. I feel like all the work that's gone into developing him has paid off. ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; *0* YES! There's going to be a pet arc now. Ike's totally getting a hamster. ~ Thanks to **_**Skye-Moonknight7913**_**; Yay! Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Man, I remember the good ol' days when I just had one or two reviews to reply to. XD ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondTHEspriter**_**; Ooh, yes. Pit/Angel+Quince/Nya double date. That'll be fun…Thanks for the idea! ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; Bulbapedia. Nice. XD Black might make an appearance at some point, but I need to come up with a reason for him being there… ~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; My work here is done. (jk, jk) Thank you so much! ~ HUGE thank you to **_**LatteCurlz**_**; Yay! You caught up! Thank you for everything, and I'm glad you enjoy. :) ~ Thanks to **_**Toxic Ink**_**; Cool username, BTW. Gah, I'm so terrible with typos. I'm sorry. *bows* But I'm glad you're enjoying nonetheless. ~ And our lucky 450****th**** review goes to **_**Foxpilot**_**, who has been here since the very beginning; XD I just read a lot of mysteries. And thanks again for the advice. :) Yay! Another Ollie fan (kinda…)!**

**WOOOOT! *coughs* Anyway…About…65% of the stuff in this chapter is some Star Wars reference. This is what happens when someone requests a chapter involving Beam-Swords. I go all out. (mwahaha) Fellow Star Wars geeks, please enjoy. Non-Star-Wars geeks, I hope you get some of the jokes anyway. XD**

**Disclaimer: SSBB/SSBM does not belong to me. And all the Star Wars lines/references belong to George Lucas and his buddies. And I apologize again for Link's rude comments about Marth's sexuality (Link has a potty mouth, doesn't he?). **

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 37: Beam-Swords**

"Go go go!" Quincy bellowed, red in the face beneath his trademark baseball cap as he shouted at his Ivysaur, who was struggling to pick up the fourth blue laser sword that had dropped from the ceiling. "Come on! You can beat Marth—you got it!"

"Hah, as if!" Marth called out breathlessly as he sheathed Falchion to devote his full attention to his own beam-sword, which he now swung two-handedly at Link, driving the Hylian backwards. It had been somebody's idea of a joke to suddenly let four of the lightsaber-esque swords drop from the ceiling and switch from the usual Final Destination music to the Star Wars theme. The three other brawlers—Marth, Link, and Pit—were all having an excellent time, but considering that Ivysaur didn't have opposable thumbs, it was having a much harder time of things.

"The force is strong in this one!" Marth teased, his lightsaber creating blue arcs that seemed to linger in the air long after he finished a strike. Link retreated behind his shield, and eventually ducked out behind it for a moment to strike at Ivysaur, who was still struggling. The pokemon went flying, and Quincy winced.

"Get back up!" he shouted. Ivysaur gave him an 'are-you-serious?' look, and remained flopped on the ground. Quincy rolled his eyes and switched it out for Squirtle, which at least would have better luck with the lightsaber.

"Heya trainer," came a voice from behind Quincy. He turned around to see Nya leaning out over the rail.

"Hey!" he said eagerly, turning away from the fight as a broad smile split his face. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," Nya said, twisting a dirty rag around in her hands. "Just cleaning, you know?" She flipped the rag over her shoulder. "With everything that happened here lately, they want this place as clean as ever. You know they replaced the carpet where the announcer died? …They couldn't get the blood out."

Quincy noticed the slightly hollow tone that had entered Nya's voice, and he gave her a concerned look. "Don't think about it too much," he told her forcefully.

Nya clenched the rag in-between her hands. "How are you so calm?" she demanded suddenly. "How are all of you so calm? You almost died! You were all betrayed, so how can you…?"

Her gaze drifted over to the stage, where Marth was cackling like a madman as he slashed at Pit's back when the angel turned around to shoot an arrow at Link. As it turned out, both attacks missed, and Link stumbled his way back into the fight, knocking aside a klutzy Squirtle with almost no effort at all. All three boys were laughing and quoting Star Wars at one another, completely oblivious to the fact that Quincy was no longer participating.

"How can you be so…normal?" Nya asked breathlessly. "I mean, no offense or anything, but I can't even walk down the hallway where the announcer was killed, but I saw Zelda walking down it just the other day without any reaction at all, and she nearly died there! I don't get it!"

"I guess…because we're used to it?" Quincy guessed. In all honesty, he had never really thought about it. He—and apparently everyone else as well—had just accepted things as a fact of life and moved on. It had never really occurred to him to think otherwise.

"Scared?" Marth panted as he flipped off of Link, whom he had just tackled and relieved of his lightsaber. With two glowing swords in his hands now, he advanced on the Hylain, a huge grin on his face as he recited, "Fear is the path to the dark side, young Link! Fear leads to anger! Anger leads to hate! Hate leads to suffering!"

Link bellowed something profane, which caused Pit to leap onto his back and start tugging at his hat with cries of "IT'S A TRAAAP!"

Quincy smirked, longing to join in on the fun, but he suspected that if he tried to personally get involved, all he'd end up with would be a bloody nose. Better to leave the actual combat to the pokemon. He turned back to Nya, who still looked troubled.

"Well, what would we do otherwise?" he questioned. "Be scared? It's better just to accept things and move on. If you think too much about it, then you never get over it, right?"

Nya frowned. "…That sounds nice and all," she said slowly. "But…I don't know." She twisted the rag in-between her hands. "That just seems sad, to me."

"Really?" Quincy asked. "I don't see it that way."

"Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?" Link was complaining as he peeled Pit off of his back.

"I'm not a storm trooper!" Pit shouted indignantly. "I'm Admiral Ackbar! What's wrong with you? Don't you know your cultural references?"

"Watch your mouth, kid, or you'll find yourself floating home," Link growled. "Into the garbage chute, flyboy!" He grabbed hold of Pit's arm and flung him over his shoulder, bouncing him off of the stage. It was only due to the angel's wings that he managed to avoid dropping into the safety net.

Marth grabbed hold of one of his lightsabers with both hands and swung it at Link's head like a baseball bat. "Link!" he shouted as the Hylian went flying. "I am your father!"

"Who's my other daddy, Marth Vader?" Link retorted as he landed on his hands and rolled back to his feet.

Quincy burst into astonished laughter at that, and for a few moments found himself completely oblivious to Nya's unhappy mood. When he turned around and saw that she still looked upset, he frowned. "What's up, Nya?"

The teenage girl sighed, her brown eyes unreadable. "I just don't get. You guys were so shaken up by the Genevieve thing, but here you've gone right back to normal just like that." She snapped her fingers to illustrate the suddenness of the change. "What's so different?"

"Well, that was much longer, you know?" Quincy pointed out. "I mean, we were scared for weeks when Genevieve was here. We didn't know who was going to be next. But here, it was only one day. And none of us really were that concerned. We knew that we were going to figure it out eventually, so we were all hopeful. …Did that make sense?" He smiled as he looked up at Nya, who nodded slowly. "When Genevieve was here, we thought things were never going to get back to normal, but three days ago, when the attacks happened, we all knew that we were going to get things back to normal. I mean, sure, we were all worried and all, but we were determined. So when everything ended happily, that's why we were able to bounce back so fast, I think. Nobody was seriously hurt this time. It was intense, but we were all confident that we'd get out of it."

Nya nodded again. "…That makes a bit of sense, I guess."

"I sense great fear in you—You have hate, you have anger…but you don't use them," Link bellowed at Marth as he forced the Altean backwards with a series of quick slashes and jabs with the Master-sword, seeing as Marth still held Link's beam-sword.

"Who needs anger when you have mad skills?" Marth shouted back.

"Your overconfidence is your weakness," Link laughed as Marth suddenly went on the offensive and he quickly shifted his stance to guard better.

"You know, the ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent," the Altean prince countered.

Pit suddenly swooped over the stage, zooming up as high as the safety net would allow before folding his wings and dropping like a stone. His beam-sword powered up right as he unfurled his wings, and he managed to hit Marth with a glancing blow to the shoulder before landing. "This party's over!" he quoted before lashing out with both feet in Link's direction.

Quincy was startled to hear Nya's quiet giggle sound behind him. He turned back to face her, breaking into a grin himself when he noticed that her face was, once again, serene and happy.

"I get it now," she laughed.

Quincy belatedly returned his attention to Squirtle, who had wisely stayed out of the main fight and was standing in the corner, looking confused. Quincy told it to get back into the fight, and then looked back up at Nya, who smiled warmly at him.

"I get it," she repeated with a soft laugh. "I'm sorry. I was completely wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Quincy asked.

"I thought…" Nya said softly. "Oh man, you're going to hate me…But I thought…that maybe you guys were able to snap back so fast because somebody died. With the Genevieve thing, she's still out there now, isn't she? So, I thought that you were all happy because he died. And…I don't know. I just thought that, since you all seem to be so used to death and all that…that maybe you thought that the announcer's death was the best way to solve things."

"I'm not used to death," Quincy said quietly. "And just because the others are doesn't mean that they like it. There was probably a better way for things to end, but we'll never know now."

Nya nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, I know," she said hurriedly. "I just didn't know the reason for it, so I came up with one myself. And I was wrong." She beamed. "And I'm really happy to be wrong, Quincy. I get it now."

Quincy smiled up at her from the stage, marveling at the way she was able to casually lean on the railing of the stadium and talk to him like this. In his opinion, Nya's ability to ask people about something that was bothering her, even if she wasn't sure she would like the answer, was something that made her very brave.

"I mean," Nya said wryly. "There probably was a diplomatic solution to everything, but—"

"Nya," Quincy sighed. "This is _Brawl_. We don't do diplomatic solutions here." He smirked as he tipped his hat back from his eyes. "We do aggressive negotiations."

**xXx**

"Twice the pride, double the fall!" Pit screeched at Link, who was backpedaling fast.

"Hey Marth!" Link shouted desperately. "I figured out who my other daddy is! It's got to be Ike, right?"

Marth, who had been swatting aside Squirtle's pathetic attempts to swing the light saber at him as he watched Nya and Quincy's shameless flirting, turned around at that, a fire igniting in his eyes. He leapt after Link, who grabbed Pit by the tunic and hauled him into the path of Marth's sword.

The angelic meatshield went skittering across the stage and plunged off of the edge once again, only to flit nimbly back to the stage.

Link and Marth engaged one another again, with Pit sighing and resigning himself to taking on Squirtle. Within a few seconds, the pokemon was squirming in the safety net, and Pit quickly followed; finally knocked off of the stage when Link succeeded in smacking Marth's second lightsaber out of his hand and it unexpectedly bounced up into Pit's face.

"You don't know the power of the dark side!" Marth Vader crowed, flipping up into the air to slash at Link's back.

"Your thoughts betray you, Father," Link quoted back. "I'll never turn to the dark side!"

Marth noticed after a few more strikes what Link was trying to do. With his attacks, the Hylian was slowly turning the fight around; switching their positions so that Marth was closer to the edge than Link, instead of the other way around.

"Hah," he burst out when he realized what Link was doing. "You should be mindful of the future, my young padawan, but not at the expense of the moment!"

"Wha—?"

Before Link even had time to blink, Marth had flipped his lightsaber into his left hand, and pulled out Falchion with his right. In another second, the Altean had ducked under Link's raised arm and brought both swords up in a sort of X-shape across Link's neck.

Marth—with a ridiculously smug grin on his face—shook his navy bangs out of his eyes as he said coolly, "If you cannot be turned, you will be destroyed." He took a step forward, and Link's eyes widened as he realized that he was about to lose his balance.

"Young fool," Marth grinned, giving Link the final shove to send the Hylian tumbling over the stage's edge. "Only now do you understand. Your feeble skills are no match for the dark side."

**xXx**

"I'm just saying, you should stick with your role," Link was complaining as he and the three other teenagers walked out of the locker room. "I was obviously Luke, and you were supposed to be Darth Vader, but you kept switching from Vader to the Emperor, and I swear you had a Jinn quote in there too."

"Yeah?" Marth sighed tiredly, tugging at the collar of his damp T-shirt that he had changed into after his shower. "Well Pit went from quoting Admiral Ackbar to Mace Windu to Count Dooku himself." Pit smiled proudly. "If that's not switching around I don't know what is. Besides, you yourself quoted Leia at least once."

"Did not."

"Did too," Marth explained. "The stormtrooper line was from Leia to Luke!"

"It was not," Link said hotly. "You're just mad because I know about your scandalous relationship with Ike."

"And you're mad because you're an elf and I kicked your butt."

"Play nice!" Pit sang as he danced his way down the hallway in pursuit of dinner. Quincy broke into a sprint to catch up, while the two older teenagers hung back, still playfully arguing with each other.

Just as the argument was about to turn a little less playful, Samus came out into the hallway and smacked into Marth's shoulder.

"Jeez, I'm sor—oh, it's you two," she said, her face going from apologetic to disapproving in a second. "You know that you nearly made Sheik and Snake nearly wet themselves they were laughing so hard at you guys? Not to mention that Ike almost broke the TV when you made that comment, Link…"

"Snake watches Star Wars?" Link and Marth asked in perfect unison.

"Of course he watches Star Wars," Samus said dismissively. "He's way more out there than you'd think. Unlike some guys,"—she prodded Marth's shoulder—"Snake hasn't lived his whole life in a protective bubble of royalty."

Marth snatched at her hand before she could retrieve it and used it to tug her into a hug. "That wasn't very nice," he teased.

"Ew, Marth, you're all wet," Samus blurted and instinctively tried to twist away.

"That's what she said," Link couldn't help saying quietly.

Marth's smile was completely fake as he reached over to whack the Hylian over the head. "May the force be with you!" he said cheerily. "Now on your way—we are not the droids you're looking for."

Link rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say. I'll leave you two lovebirds to it. See you at dinner."

Samus' eyes flashed as she looked up at Marth. "I thought Jedi knights weren't allowed to love. Isn't that why Anakin got into trouble?"

"A, I'm not a Jedi," Marth said quietly. "And B, concerning the Jedi: Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden. Compassion—which could be defined as unconditional love—is essential to a Jedi's life. So you might say that Jedi are encouraged to love."

"Okay," Samus said thoughtfully. "So if you aren't a Jedi, then what are you?"

"Yours."

Samus pulled a grimace, scarcely able to believe that Marth had been able to say that with a straight face. "Please," she groaned. "No cheesy lines right before dinner. I'll lose my appetite."

She tried to twist out of his arms, but he tightened his grip and stopped her.

"I meant it," he said, his voice entirely serious now. "I told you, didn't I? _Aishite imasu._"

"You weren't serious," Samus said forcefully. "Everything's a game to you here. Besides, you're already engaged."

"Cadea and I are not engaged. We're betrothed, and there's a difference. Come on, would I joke about something like this? You honestly think I'd lead you on if I wasn't serious?"

Samus turned to face him, letting her arm slide off of his right shoulder. This was the shoulder that the doctors had thought he would never be able to use again. But here he was, holding her with it.

"Face it, bounty-hunter, you're just my type," Marth said softly. "Fearless, inventive…and cold, in a way."

"I'm not cold."

Marth laughed. "It's not like I'm asking you to marry me tomorrow. Just…maybe someday."

"I don't like to think about 'maybe someday's.'"

"Okay," he said gamely. "Then just think about today. Do you like me today?"

"I think you must've hit your head or something. You're being weird."

Marth sighed, giving up. "Fine. Whatever. I can't blame you if you aren't ready to accept my awesomeness yet." He let go of her waist, but then slung an arm around her shoulder as he struck out again towards the cafeteria.

"Dream on, Marth," Samus rolled her eyes. But she couldn't bring herself to push his arm off of her shoulder.

**xXx**

"Ah…long live the stupid couple," Link chuckled as Marth and a red-faced Samus finally made their way into the dining hall.

"I think they're cute," Sheik announced as she took a sip from her soda.

Ike—who had remained silent for the majority of the afternoon due to the fact that the only Star Wars lines he knew were 'May the Force be with you' and 'Luke, I am your father'—suddenly spoke up. "It's actually better if they aren't officially together."

"Why's that?" Zelda asked hurriedly, wanting to finish up the conversation before Marth and Samus came within earshot.

"Because, they like playing with each other," Ike said knowledgably. "They're both too stubborn to really just admit their feelings like that. Marth doesn't like to talk about love or feelings or anything like that, and Samus…Well, I haven't known her for as long as you guys have…but I'm not sure that she really puts much stock in love at all. I think they both prefer the game they're playing. They'd probably get bored if they actually became a real couple."

Roy shot a sideways look at Ike. "Wow," he said. "You really have your intelligent moments, don't you?"

"Don't we all?" Ike answered.

"And besides," Link said as Marth and Samus reached their booth and squeezed into it, confused expressions on their faces as they tried and failed to pick up the thread of the conversation. "Maybe everything will change someday. I mean, after all, you can't stop change any more than you can stop the sun from setting."

Everyone at the table save for Marth and Samus smiled and nodded knowingly.

"…Is this something I should know about?" Marth finally asked.

"Yeah," Sheik said drolly. "You should know. But we can't tell you."

"Why not?" Marth asked innocently.

"It's just something you've got to figure out for yourself," Sheik said with a grin.

**xXx**

**Sooo…slight issue. It's not another hiatus, but it is a vacation. I'm gone until the weekend after next, and I seriously doubt that I'm going to get another chapter up before then, so you'll have to wait a week for more Gamey goodness. Sorry about that. I have too many relatives—I have to visit them all.**

**AN: Believe it or not, initially I didn't mean for there to be anything serious going on in this chapter. It was basically just supposed to be the guys goofing off with lightsabers, but then I realized that I hadn't written about Nya in awhile, and so I stuck her in there and she and Quincy managed to get into a deep conversation, and then Samus somehow snuck in there as well and dragged Marth off the deep end as well. …I swear these guys have a mind of their own. **

**Lined up for the next chapter are various ideas involving **_**LatteCurlz**_** request of a challenge/race-type thing, something involving fireworks, or maybe something exploring a bit of Oliver's past now that I finally have worked out his backstory (did you know that if you google 'Oliver Stoelhart,' this fic is the only thing that pops up? Woot! And my mother says I'm unoriginal. HAH!). As of now, I have no idea which I'm going to feel in the mood to write when I come back, and I get the feeling that I owe someone a request chapter that I keep forgetting about…Did I owe **_**RawkHawk2.0 **_**a request? D:?**

**MoD's **_**Contest For Those We've Left Behind**_** is still open, but not for much longer! So hurry up with those submissions. **

**And with that, I humbly bid you all adieu as I go over the river and through the woods to grandma's house for a week. Please review!**


	38. Chapter 38: Independence

**Okay, I said a week, it's been two. I had writer's block (lame excuse is lame). BTW, my internet and email's gone crazy (AGAIN), so I'm sorry to everyone who's PM'ed me and I haven't replied in two weeks (I haven't forgotten about you!). Bah—stupid computer. I'm back online now, so I'll hopefully be back up-to-date with everything soon…?**

**With that, I believe thanks are in order! First thanks goes to **_**MusicGamer**_**; XD I actually had to do a bit of fireworks research for this thing. ~ Thanks to **_**introtothepanic**_**; Woot! XD Sorry about the long wait. ~ Thanks to **_**Jenakin Ramsobi**_**; I'm very glad you enjoyed it. ~ Thanks to **_**RaymondTHEspriter**_**; Every chapter needs a Marth-is-gay/a-girl joke. XD It's part of his wonderful charm. ~ Thanks to **_**MEAM-neko n.n**_**; Thank you so much for actually searching. XD Oliver loves you. ~ Thanks to **_**Mariko Midori**_**; Huh, that's not a bad idea. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; Aw crud, I forgot Yoda! How could I? I'm so glad you're writing stuff, I'll make sure to check it out. Oh hey, you're an Ike-fan, right? :D You'll like this one. ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; XD My arcs are always angsty, aren't they? No idea why. ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; I ship so many couples….XD ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; AwEsome. There will totally be Star Trek in the future. ~ Thanks to **_**angel;**_** You should watch Star Wars! XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**HyperJuggernaut;**_** I'll try not to make fun of minor character so much, and I'll make sure to get a starfox/sword fight in soon! ~ Thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; I'm sorry for not replying to the PM thing for so long! I still love you. XD And there will be a double-date somewhere…haven't decided where yet. ~ Thanks to **_**PrincessDiMimi**_**; I didn't get eaten, but I got pwned. ;_; (see the AN) XD Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**LatteCurlz**_**; WooT! Thank you so much! XD ~ Thanks to my bro **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; I've already rambled for a good full paragraph about how much your review made my day, but let me say it again: Thank you so much! Yay! ~ Thanks to **_**Lazy-Skye**_**; Ike is wise beyond his years, is he not? XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; I cannot name the reference. ;_; Once again, thanks for pointing out my mistakes! XD I'm really bad at catching everything. ~ Thanks to **_**redhazeKJ**_**; Quincy is adorable. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; We can all be geeks together! XD ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; DUDE! That would be awesome! I'm totally doing that! ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12;**_** Nerds FTW indeed. ~ Thanks to S**_**marty and the Geek**_**; LOL thanks for reviewing. The reason I haven't included Toon Link is because I was worried about keeping him separate from Link himelf…Sorry. ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPepperLHCB**_**; Thanks so much! ~ And final thanks goes to **_**AwesomeSaucelv8**_**; I think Samus/Marth should officially be abbreviated to Smarthus. XD Yay!**

**You guys know it now takes me about twenty minutes to reply to all these as opposed to the two minutes it took in the beginning? XD It's my own fault, I guess….XD Still, it's awesome in a funny way. **

**Because I was writing this on-and-off for the past week as I battled through writer's block, I'm not sure if I like how it turned out…It's definitely not my best. ;_; Sorry. It's mostly just fanservice. Lots of Ike/Roy randomness in there along with lots of explosions and flowery descriptions... So…let me know what you think. XD**

**Disclaimer: SSBB/SSBM belongs to Nintendo, and **_**V for Vendetta**_** belongs to the ever awesome Wachowski brothers and Warner Bros.** **I referenced V4V a few times in here, but I hope it makes sense to people who haven't seen it (it's an excellent movie).**

**With that, please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 38: Independence**

"Fireworks," Ike clarified.

The three teenage boys gave him 'no-duh' expressions, as they seemed to find nothing wrong with this idea. Marth was reading the safety instructions on what looked like a discarded NASA prototype with a fuse attached, and by way of explanation offered up, "It's independence day."

"It's not the fourth of July," Ike pointed out.

"True," Link said. "But we're not celebrating America's Independence Day."

Ike suppressed a groan. "So who's independence day _are_ we celebrating?"

"Hyrule's," Link replied with a straight face as he ripped a bottle rocket from the packaging.

"You're kidding."

"Totally serious, man. Fireworks are tradition."

Ike surveyed the three teenagers pawing through various (and probably illegal) piles of firecrackers, all but rubbing their hands together with evil glee. Ike supposed he shouldn't be surprised; after all, blowing things up was a typical teenage boy fantasy.

But at the same time, being seriously injured by a firework exploding in his face wasn't very high on Ike's bucket-list. And being seriously injured by a firework seemed extremely likely, especially given the way Roy's eyes had lit up when he had seen the book of matches.

"You're all a bunch of pyros," Ike sighed, and then turned on his heel and left the rec room.

"Filthy hypocrite!" came the playful taunts behind him. "You'll be back!"

"Will not!" Ike promised hotly, barely turning his shoulder to shout back down the hallway.

"You know you will," sang Marth triumphantly. "We'll be launching them off tonight, outside, at about nine o'clock, and you know you'll be there."

"Hah!" Ike tossed his head. "Challenge accepted. I'll be safe in bed at nine, and you'll be out setting yourselves on fire."

"The only thing that's going to get set on fire tonight is the sky, Ike," Link said softly.

"Yeah right."

**xXx**

"Did you hear about the boys setting off fireworks tonight?" Sheik asked, plopping her dinner tray—the majority of which was covered by a greasy pepperoni pizza—down in front of Ike before throwing herself down next to him.

"Yeah, but I'm not going." Ike rolled his eyes and reached over to steal a slice of Sheik's pizza.

Not only did she smack his hand away, she also ripped her scarf from her mouth to fling at his face. "Why not? Everybody says it's going to be awesome!"

"I'm just not interested," Ike said tiredly. "Blowing things up for no reason just doesn't make sense to me."

"But it's Hyrule's Independence Day," Sheik protested. "And Link's your friend. How can you not go?"

"I guess you're going then?"

Sheik reached for her third slice of pizza. Ike blinked; how the heck had she managed to eat two slices already? "Of course I'm going. It's fireworks."

"You're a pyro too?" Ike yelped disbelievingly. "What is the world coming to when pretty girls like you are just as obsessed with fire and explosions as…as _Marth?_!"

"Just because Marth isn't your type of pretty girl doesn't mean you have to single her out like that," Sheik said around a pepperoni, skillfully hiding her surprise at Ike describing her as a 'pretty girl.'

Ike snorted a lungful of his soda at that, and immediately erupted into a coughing fit. Sheik used the distraction to snatch up her scarf from the table and pull it around her face again, hiding the fact that she was blushing.

When Ike was able to breathe again, he shot Sheik an appreciating grin. "That was good," he appraised.

"Thanks," Sheik replied neutrally, reaching for her fourth slice of pizza. "So, anyway, about the fireworks…"

"I'm not going," Ike repeated firmly, finally snatching his own slice from under Sheik's nose.

"No, I mean…" Sheik paused to swallow her crust, and then grabbed another slice.

Ike scowled. "Is that seriously your fifth piece?"

Sheik shrugged nonchalantly, drawn off-topic from what she was originally going to say. "Yeah? So? I have a high metabolism."

He scoffed. "You're like a little cow—"

Sheik raised an eyebrow, all of her previous joy about the 'pretty girl' thing instantly evaporating.

"—ola bear," he hastily amended, and looked down at the floor, his face bright red. "…So, anyway, you were saying about the fireworks?" he asked quietly.

"I _was_ going to say that if you're really not going, then _maybe_ I'd stay behind with you," Sheik said haughtily, reaching for a sixth piece and glaring at Ike in a way that dared him to say anything. "But who'd want to hang out with a _cow,_ right Ike?"

Ike flinched. "I called you a koala bear, not a cow."

"Because you know loads of people want to hang out with those," Pit interjected from over the booth. He and Quincy had apparently been listening in on the conversation and having a quiet giggle. "They're all cute and fuzzy."

"Shut up," Ike moaned, dropping his head onto his arms. After a long silence—broken only by Pit's and Quincy's stifled laughter—did Ike lift his head and mumble into his T-shirt sleeve, "You should go, Sheik."

Sheik looked down at him, noting how his face was still tomato red underneath his spikey blue hair, and took pity on him. "Look," she said as she tapped his hand for attention. He glanced up at her. "I am going to go to the fireworks thing tonight…and I'm making you come with me."

"What?" Ike's head shot up, ocean-blue eyes wide and panicked. "Heck no!"

Sheik rolled her eyes. "Come on. What's your deal? Did you tick Link off or something? …Oh, wait." A knowing smile formed across her face. "I bet you told Marth that you wouldn't go, and he called you out on it. Am I right?"

Ike blinked. "You nailed it."

She grinned triumphantly and combed her blonde hair back away from her eyes. "So who cares what Marth thinks? He's a nice guy, but everybody knows he can be a smug little jerk when he wants to. Go do what you want."

Ike suddenly had several memories flash through his mind in distinct order: his first day at Brawl where Marth had flung himself down next to the general and asked why he was always by himself; Sheik standing by a window, her slim frame outlined in moonlight; and…more recently, watching Marth try to lead her around the room, both of them wincing alternately as the prince struggled to keep up with her agile movements, and then her hand slipping into his own later, accompanied by the strange, unexplainable feeling that he wasn't alone…

But…

"Thanks, but no thanks," he said quietly. "I'm really not that interested in fireworks. I'd rather just hang out here."

Sheik lowered her red eyes to the table, absently peeling the pepperonis from her seventh slice of pizza and stacking them neatly on her tray. She appeared to be thinking about something, and Ike gave her a few moments to finish.

"I must really like you," she said at length, blowing her bangs out of her face.

Ike raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Tell you what," Sheik suggested. "I'll stay back with you, but only if you apologize for calling me a cow."

"It slipped out," Ike explained. "I meant it in an endearing way."

"That's not an apology," Sheik pointed out crossly.

Ike blanched. "I'm sorry."

"Alright then." Sheik's face immediately brightened, and she fearlessly reached across the table to grab Ike's hand. "So it looks like you and I are going to have the evening to ourselves. What do you suggest we do?"

Ike glanced down at Sheik's hand in his, noticing maybe for the first time how small and fragile she actually was. Her meticulously wrapped fingers only came up to the second knuckle on his hands, and her palm only covered about two-thirds of his.

He smiled warmly at her, and then said with a straight face, "You know, I was thinking about eating some eucalyptus…"

Quincy stifled a giggle from the other booth.

"I might join you," Sheik answered, ignoring the pokemon trainer. "If you can stand my company."

"You just ate a whole pizza!"

"You helped," she giggled.

Ike shrugged modestly. "Maybe we'll just watch a movie or something."

Sheik nodded. "Awesome, but I get to pick."

"Deal."

**xXx**

"Huh," Marth said thoughtfully as he panned his flashlight over the assembled crowd of Brawlers and staffers alike, searching for another head of blue hair. He thought he spotted Ike twice, but it turned out to just be Sonic and Falco. "Maybe he really isn't going to show."

Link and Roy stood on a low hill, both of them silhouetted in the quickly fading sunlight. Already it was dark enough that it was hard to make out their faces without the aid of Marth's flashlight. Both of them had their arms full of fireworks.

"Come to think of it," Link said thoughtfully as he set his pile down and started trying to decide which one he would light off first. "I don't see Sheik around here either."

Roy did his best not to appear bothered, but Link and Marth noticed the small scowl that creased his face. The two older teenagers shared a glance, and then Link offered his pile of sparklers to Roy. "You pick first," he said.

Roy grinned boyishly and selected a package of Bottle Rockets. "We'll start off with little stuff," he explained, the hurt in his eyes replaced with an excited, pyromaniac glint. "And then we'll move onto the giant ones. No sense wasting a great show if no one's looking, right?"

Link nodded eagerly, while Marth looked around the hillside and scratched his head. "Do we actually have a bottle to light these off from?"

"Who needs a bottle?" Roy demanded, reaching into his pocket for the lighter. The crowd of Brawlers, who had stopped about one-hundred feet away and hadn't dared come much closer for safety concerns, watched intently, waiting for the action to start. Sheik and Ike were nowhere to be seen.

"Um, the instructions clearly say not to hold it in your hands or point it at people or buildings," Marth pointed out, and then rolled his eyes when he looked up from the package to see Roy and Link each strike a ridiculous martial arts pose, both of them with six or seven rockets in their hands, all of them pointing at each other.

"You guys are idiots," Marth sighed, and then plucked a rocket from Link's hand, rammed the wooden dowel into the ground, lit the fuse, and took a step back. The firecracker fizzled as the fuse slowly shrunk, and then suddenly shot off of the dowel into the sky, exploding with a huge CRACK and a relatively small shower of sparks.

The entire crowd behind the swordsmen 'ooh'ed in perfect unison. Cackling, Link set off several more rockets, while Roy and Marth started pawing through the larger fireworks. Marth paused, watching Roy's expression for any signs of depression. To his relief there were none. As much as Marth liked Ike, he had known Roy much longer, and felt more than a little responsible for the younger boy.

"Just like old times, right?" he asked as Roy read the label on a dangerous looking rocket called 'The Crimson Swan.' "Lots of loud noises, people shouting at us…you, me and Link standing on a hill…All that's missing is the Dairy Queen ice-cream."

"And the cops," Roy chortled. "Don't forget the cops."

"The cops could still come," Marth laughed. "We just have to make a big enough bang."

"The convertible's missing too," Link added, returning to the Fire Emblem men to grab an armful of explosives for himself. "Which is a good thing, seeing as Roy probably doesn't want to go in the trunk again."

"Har har. It's not my fault I'm smaller than you two. We should do this one," Roy announced, pressing the Crimson Swan into Link's hand.

Link shoved it right back. "You light it."

Roy hesitated, and then flicked open his lighter and lit the fuse, setting the firework down on the ground and then stepping backwards. After a few seconds, it ignited and screamed off into the sky, where it proceeded to explode into a massive plume of red sparks, which—as they fell—vaguely resembled the wings of a swan.

Everyone in the crowd was watching now; a few people had even applauded.

"And we haven't even started yet!" Marth shouted out to them, his natural charisma firing up the crowd. After checking to make sure that they were properly pinned, he set off several Catherine Wheels, which quickly picked up speed, spinning so fast that they hardly appeared to be moving at all. Sparks and small spurts of flame were flung off of them, causing the three teenagers to skip back another few steps until the wheels had burned themselves out.

Then they all separated again, Link dashing up the hill to take down the wheels, Marth and Roy running back over to their basket of explosives to start picking out larger fireworks that required careful launching. To occupy the crowd, Link set off several sparklers and started tracing fiery patterns with them in the air. He drew a Triforce—in honor of the holiday they were using as an excuse to light things on fire—and then the Smash logo; a circle with a cross in the lower left side. After that, it was hard to tell. He drew circles and arcs, painting the air around him in yellow fire. The sparks flared in his eyes and flashed across his teeth. For a few minutes, he was twirling the sparklers so fast that he appeared to be bathed in light.

Zelda, safe in the crowd of observers, smiled quietly to herself, watching Link dance across the grass with that carefree expression on his face. There was a time, she remembered, where he hadn't smiled like that. She often wondered if it had been the influence of other kids his age that had softened him. Back in Hyrule, he was neither a child nor an adult, but suspended somewhere in-between. And even if there had been another boy his age, she doubted that there would be another teenager who's fighting skills could challenge his. But here…here was different.

"Fire in the hole!" Roy yelled, and then he and Marth plugged their ears and ducked their heads as a much larger, more professional firework zoomed off into the sky. It blossomed into an orb of green and gold light, expanding in a surreal ball to fill the sky. The dissipating ball was immediately followed by an ear-shattering BOOM.

While everyone was still recovering, the three swordsmen were already lighting off more; Link and Marth setting them up to launch while Roy followed with his lighter. Explosion after explosion rocked the ground and burst the sky, color after color flowered across the night blackness, and sparks rained down from the heavens like rain, fizzling out just before they landed on the Brawlers' heads.

They didn't stop until they ran out of ammunition. When it came time for the last one, Marth and Roy set it off together, while Link sprinted down the hill towards the crowd.

"I guess Sheik really did stay back with Ike," Roy said dully as he held the rocket straight so Marth could light it.

Marth glanced up at his friend through his bangs. "You don't know she's with Ike."

Roy sighed, his face unreadable. "It's alright," he said coolly, his voice soft. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm…resigned to it, I guess."

"You still have a shot," Marth protested unhappily. "Come on. Back in Melee, we didn't know Ike's name, and you and Sheik were like this." He crossed his index and middle finger.

"And you thought you were in love with Peach," Roy snorted. "And besides, the key part of the whole thing is that Sheik didn't know Ike back then. Now she does, and she loves him. It's not his fault, and it's not hers either."

Marth shook his head. "She loves you too, Roy. I can't imagine that her feelings just disappeared. If you give up now, you'll never know."

Roy shot his friend a look. "Aren't you supposed to be on_ his_ side?"

"I'm on both of your sides!"

Roy blinked, startled. "I—I thought you…"

"I what?" Marth demanded as he lit the fuse on their last firework, a bemused smile on his face. "You thought I'd forget about you? Fat chance, Roy. You're unforgettable."

The last firework soared up into the sky, flashing once and them expanding into a huge gold flower that appeared to be growing from the black leaves of the night itself.

Marth—with a huge sigh—toppled over onto the grass, his blue eyes looking up towards the sky. The fire-flower was reflected in them, creating twin gold balls in his irises. Roy watched him curiously, wondering why it was that Marth always seemed to know what everyone else was feeling, but at the same time seemed unable to realize that he was in love as well. Or, if he did realize, he didn't seem to act on it.

In the crowd, Link found Zelda and gathered her into his arms, hugging her close as the final explosion lit up the night. She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss him, and he squeezed her tighter, dropping his blonde head onto her shoulder, his nose brushing her neck.

"Happy Independence Day, Princess," he said quietly, his voice soft and lilted with an old accent.

"You do realize that Hyrule never had an official holiday, right?" she whispered back.

He laughed to himself then. "There is now."

**xXx**

Sheik was curled up next to Ike against the headboard on his bed, curled up against his shoulder as they watched the video on his DVD player. At her request, they had watched _V for Vendetta_. When Ike had tried to stifle his surprised laughter, she had explained, "I'm going to see some fireworks tonight, whether you like it or not."

Ike, as it turned out, was a good person to watch movies with. He was quiet during the right parts, but during the quieter parts he would ask her questions like "what did you think of this?" or "what do you think is the significance of that?" He was warm, and he pulled her close to him during the violent scenes, as if he was worried about her being disturbed. Sheik was liking him more and more by the minute. She didn't even mind that he had called her a cow. In fact, the more she thought about it, it was cute.

They had pulled the window curtains shut, so they couldn't see the spectacular fireworks show the other swordsmen were putting on, and Sheik preferred it that way. It was bad enough that the atmosphere of the movie kept being interrupted by the frequent bangs and cracks, without having the added distraction of light flashes being thrown in there too.

Natalie Portman's voice came through the speakers for the last time, intoning the final lines of the movie: "I will never forget the man and what he meant to me."

As the screen faded to black and the credits started to play, Ike turned to her and smirked. "Have you seen this movie before?"

"Yep," Sheik replied. "But it never gets old."

"Good movies are like that," he said, and then leaned close, presumably to ask her something else. Without waiting for him to ask the question, she jumped forward and kissed him.

He froze for a moment in surprise, and then melted, his arms coming around her shoulders to pull her against his chest, deepening the kiss.

Sheik briefly remembered a time where she wouldn't have imagined things this way; where she would have preferred someone with red hair over blue. But she didn't entertain the memory long.

**xXx**

**AN: Yeah, not sure if I like how it turned out. I think it's okay. :\ The whole cow/koala bear is a true story, actually. XD I knew a couple that had that conversation almost exactly, and they're married now, so…I couldn't resist sticking that in there. There was no Smarthus (I'm totally calling Samus/Marth 'Smarthus' from this point on XD It just rolls off the tongue, does it not?) in this chapter, but there was a lot in the last one, so I figured it all balances out. XD**

**A quick lesson learned from my hiatus: Don't challenge Ethiopian kids to soccer. They'll pwn you. I have two adopted Ethiopian cousins, aged 10 and 9, and they managed to kick mine and my other 15-year-old cousin's white behinds. It was really sort of pathetic. XD The other lesson learned was that if you've got writer's block, listening to awesome music at blow-your-ears-out volumes generally cures it.**

**Next chapter is totally going to be **_**anomynous**_**'s requested Ninja battle. I'm all excited for that now. **

**This may be the last time I get to say it, but MoD's **_**Contest For Those We've Left Behind**_** is STILL open, but the deadline is only a few days away! Hurry up, people!**

**Please review. :)**


	39. Chapter 39: Ninja

**Woot! I have returned! (the one upside of Cross Country training is that I'm always so wiped that I sit down in this chair for hours at a time because I physically can't get up out of it XD)**

**First thanks goes to the ever awesome **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; The whole Dairy Queen joke is sort of the equivalent of the Calvin & Hobbes Noodle Incident. XD And there will be a Roy blow-out in the future, no worries. Thanks for the pic! ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Bah, I'm very sorry about the whole Shike/Shoy dilemma. But I LOVE your suggestion. Totally stealing it. :3 ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; There actually is no real Smarthus in this chapter either…(egad!) Birthday chapter coming up soon! ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; Yep, that whole thing's starting to settle down a little…I'll come back to it if I have no other ideas. XD Yep, Star Trek. ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; I kept looking for a place to put a Naruto reference but I couldn't think of anything. I suppose I could've had Quincy watching that instead of OHSHC… sorry. ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Aw, good luck with your writer's block! ~ Thanks to **_**LatteCurlz**_**; Why thank you very much. *ego swells* :) ~ Thanks to **_**joebthegreat**_**; no offense, but I would highly recommend reading it through the beginning, otherwise you'll have no idea who the OCs are. Thanks for the analysis though, it's always good to know that people are really looking at this story from a technical perspective instead of just a fluff one. It helps me improve. :) ~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; My work here is done. XD ~ Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Man, Marth, Link and Roy ALWAYS have fun. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Zatanna's-magical-wish**_**; Good luck with your cross over! ~ Thanks to **_**PrincessDiMimi**_**; XD 'Shike.' Awesome. I'm stealing that now. Smarthus, Shike/Shoy and…Zenk? ~ Thanks to **_**redhazeKJ**_**; Yeah, I agree. Something really should have caught on fire. Maybe I'll torch Ike's car in the future…XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Yeah, I took a step back from the relationships in this chapter, but I'm glad you enjoyed! :) ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; Seriously? You can eat two whole pizzas by yourself? *jealous* ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Oh dear. I'm not sure I should be proud or horrified that my story made you squee yourself. XD Okay, I'm proud. Whatever. *0* FELLOW SYTYCD FAN! I salute you! ~ And a final thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; Ooh, mountains. Me gusta. Fireworks are banned here too. XD And it's a good thing that the Brawl stadium is suspended off of the ground, otherwise it probably would've burst into flames (I see a potential arc…). ;) Ask your 'rents before watching V for Vendetta because it is rated R and I'd feel bad if I accidentally scarred you for life…**

**Ah…This is **_**anomynous's **_**requested ninja chapter, although I'm not sure it's what he intended. XD This is a lovely example of what happens when I have no plan when I sit down to write something. XD I never meant for there to be an actual game of ninja in here, much less did I plan to have our mystery fourth person participate (you'll see what I mean) in the invisi-brawl. I just had too much fun. Stuff happens. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own SSBB/SSBM. Or Ouran High School Host Club, although that is such a guilty pleasure anime and I love it to bits. XD I highly recommend it if you need a laugh. Nor do I own the game of Ninja, although thumbs up to anybody else who plays it. Apparently the game started in Canada. I researched this. XD I actually had to look up the names for the guns unplanned player #4 uses in the brawl later too…I'm so lame. ;_;**

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 39: Ninja**

"HAH!" Link hollered, freezing in place with his arm hovering just below Marth's. "Got you!"

Marth was quick to shake his head. "Sleeve," he protested. "Doesn't count."

"But you moved!" Samus laughed, frozen in a precarious position; her back arced back and her arms thrown over her head to avoid Pit's last movement, which had left the angel in a horribly exposed position, both of his hands wide out in the open. "You're out."

"Ugh. Fine. You guys are jerks." Marth ducked his head and bowed out of the circle, dropping down on the sofa next to Quincy, who had already been knocked out of the game and was now watching an episode of Ouran High School Host Club on the hanging TV screen. Considering that the characters were speaking in Japanese with Chinese subtitles, Marth had no idea how much of the story Quincy was actually picking up and sort of hoped for the kid's sake that he wasn't picking up much. The pokemon trainer seemed to at least be trying, watching the anime characters prance across the scream shouting at each other with an intense expression on his face. Considering that he was wearing his flannel pajama bottoms, no shirt, and a backwards baseball cap, his expression just made him look ridiculous.

_Actually…_Marth cast his eyes back to the game of Ninja, which was still in full swing with the remaining players, all of whom were still wearing their pajamas because it was a Saturday morning. _We all probably look pretty ridiculous._

Saturday mornings were something of a tradition at the Brawl stadium. While part of the whole appeal of the competition was that brawls could be called or scheduled at any time, it was sort of taboo to fight on a Saturday morning. In fact, it was pretty much taboo to do anything productive on a Saturday morning. One was likely to be falcon punched (and not necessarily by Captain Falcon) if he was spotted out of his pajamas before noon.

But, at the same time, unless something crazy had happened the night before, only a few people generally actually slept until noon, which lead to lots of people wandering the hallways and clogging up the cafeteria in their bedclothes, which eventually led to the kitchen staff shooing out anybody who had already eaten into the rec rooms, which resulted in mass tournaments of Ninja or spoons among the teenagers. The adults and more mature Brawlers just rolled their eyes and went back to bed whenever they walked in on this sort of thing, but everybody knew that if you nagged Diddy Kong or the ice climbers to play, they probably would.

Samus lunged across the center of the dwindling circle, smacking Zelda's outstretched hand before Zelda even realized that she was being targeted. Marth perked up as Zelda retreated from the game, watching with a tactician's eye as he wondered how Samus would avoid being eliminated when she was in such a vulnerable position. Link moved, his hand nearly touching Pit's but not quite. Pit lunged for Samus and missed. Sheik used her turn to recover from an awkward position, but then was forced to contort her body again to avoid Ike's attack coming at her left arm. Roy took a step back, tucking his hands safely behind his back. Samus reached around in the middle of the circle to tap Ike's hand, and he was out.

He slouched over to Marth and Quincy, sliding down onto the carpeted floor. His pajamas consisted of a sleeve-less grey shirt and a pair of black nylon shorts, and he scowled up at Marth and his waffled black shirt and cotton pants. "How do you wear long sleeves to bed? Don't you melt?"

"I don't know. I just don't." Marth grinned. "Sometimes I wear socks too."

Ike flinched. "That's just wrong, man."

Marth would have responded, had not the door to the rec room smashed open at that point, and Bowser and Ganondorf stepped through, both of them looking—as per the usual—decidedly evil.

Sadly used to such intrusions, the game of Ninja continued without a pause, Sheik taking advantage of the momentary distraction to tap Pit's fingers, and then Roy went for Samus again and finally succeeded in brushing her palm.

Ganondorf cleared his throat, the sound vaguely resembling rumbling thunder.

"You two can join in the next game," Sheik said flippantly. "But we're finishing this one first." She avoided Link's move, and nearly got his hand the next turn. Roy turned on Link as well, but Link managed to twist out of the way of his strike as well, and Roy's finger accidentally caught on Link's T-shirt, allowing the Hylian to easily tap the hand on his next turn before Roy could retract it. Cussing, Roy backed out of the circle, leaving just Link and Sheik remaining.

"I was going to ask," Ganondorf said, his voice surprisingly pleasant for so early in the day.

"No," Link cut him off, side-stepping to get in better position for his next turn. "The answer's no."

"You haven't even heard what I—" Ganondorf started, his eyes flashing like lightning.

"I don't need to," Link responded, ducking under Sheik's arm and nearly grazing her fingertips as he stood back up. "The answer's still going to be no."

"You_ will_ listen, boy!" Ganondorf barked, losing his temper all at once. He dropped a large, greyish hand on Link's shoulder and yanked backwards, throwing the teenage boy down onto the floor.

Everyone in the room lurched to their feet at once, Marth grabbing a fistful of Ike's shirt to stop the taller man from charging towards Link. Just as well too, because if Ike had moved then, he would have ran smack dab into Bowser, who had taken a step towards the group on the couch, baring his yellowed teeth as he snarled. Quincy took an automatic step back, his brown eyes widening.

Ike made a sound in return that sounded strangely like a snarl itself and tensed, muscles rippling, causing Marth to tighten his grip on Ike's shirt.

"Relax. Bowser's teeth are brighter than he is. Just let it play itself out," he said calmly. "Link knows what he's doing."

"Yes, pretty-boy," Ganondorf snapped. "'Let it play,'" he mimicked in a falsetto.

Marth's eyes flared angrily, and he and Ike reversed roles, with Ike now holding Marth back via the Altean's shirt.

From the carpet, Link suggested that Ganondorf do something anatomically unlikely with himself.

"That. Is. IT!" Ganondorf burst out. "I am sick and tired of having to take attitude from a bunch of little _heroes!_"

"If you don't like it, why don't you leave?" Sheik shouted. "Get off Link and settle it on the stage! What is wrong with you?"

Several things happened at once then: Ganondorf raised his foot to stomp on Link, who was still sprawled out on the floor, coughing. Zelda—seeing what was about to happen, grabbed at Sheik's sweatshirt, pulled out something shiny, and threw it. Marth and Ike both abandoned stopping each other, leapt forward and were nearly hit by the shiny thing. Link rolled out of the way and pinned Ganondorf's foot to the ground with his elbow, and then shoved at the massive man's knee with his shoulder. There was a red flash from Quincy's corner of the room, something hit the ground with a pained roar, and a sharp voice cut through the chaos with a cry of "STOP!"

Everybody froze, and then turned slowly towards the door, where Oliver Stoelhart stood, his face dark. He held a clipboard in his hand, and everyone somehow found their thoughts wandering to how much damage he could do with said clipboard if he wanted to.

"Oh God give me patience," the psychiatrist moaned as he took in the strange scene. Ganondorf and Link were both sprawled on the floor, their legs tangled together. Marth and Ike had paused in mid-step and were about halfway across the room. Sheik, Zelda, Pit and Roy were all standing across the opposite wall, Zelda's hand still extended from her throw. Embedded in the wall, right where Ganondorf's head had been a moment ago, was a silver knife, presumably stolen from Sheik's pocket, although why Sheik had a knife stashed in her pajamas was anybody's guess. Bowser was shuffling guiltily for the exit, and—to everyone's confusion—there was now a Swellow pokemon flying around the ceiling.

Oliver took a deep breath, glaring at the pokemon. "Okay," he said after a long moment, not dropping his gold-flecked eyes from the ceiling. "A, you guys know the rules. No brawling outside the stadium. B, Quincy, _please_ tell me that customs know that you have a Swellow on you and that you didn't smuggle it in here. I get that you were trying to help, but seriously. Unauthorized weapons are unauthorized for a reason, kid, and your pokemon technically count as weapons here."

Quincy looked away, obviously ashamed.

"C," Stoelhart rounded on Sheik. "Why the heck do you have a knife in your pocket? You know about the unauthorized weapons rule too. And you!" He pointed furiously at Zelda. "Why do you know that she has a knife, and what would possess you to chuck it at a fellow brawler? D, Marth and Ike, stop escalating the problem. If this was an issue between Ganondorf and Link, you should have either stayed out of it or tried to break it up. Instead, you two looked like you were about to get in the middle of it."

"Ganondork was about to crush—" Marth started, his face flushed.

"I don't want to hear it," Oliver shook his head. "You should've stayed out of it. E, Pit, Roy and Bowser, why were you three just standing there? If there was an issue, one of you should have alerted a staff member, and the other two should have tried to break it up. And finally, F, why are you all still in your pajamas? Don't we have a dress code or something?"

"No," Marth said defensively. "Sir, you're being unfair! Ganondorf came in here and with next to no pretense shoved Link over and proceeded to try and stomp on him! What were we supposed to do, run for an adult? Yeah right. What adult here is going to take on a ticked-off Ganondork? I mean, maybe the knife was a bit harsh, but look what happened last time we took on Ganondork here; Ike and I wound up in the hospital."

"That wasn't his fault though, was it? The rules are there for a reason, Marth," Oliver said wearily. "Ganondorf knows that too, and maybe he wouldn't be as likely to attack you boys at every possible turn if you guys didn't bait him every time you saw one another. He was provoked, wasn't he?"

"I most certainly was," Ganondorf smirked as he climbed laboriously to his feet.

"Oh grow a p—" Link started from the floor, but a glare from Stoelhart shut him up.

"Why are you taking his side?" Ike asked angrily.

"I'm not," Oliver said patiently, glancing down at whatever he had on his clipboard. "I'm telling you to either reach a peaceful solution outside of the arena, or—if you must resort to violence—go do it in the arena. Those are your options."

"I choose arena," Ganondorf spoke up, apparently somewhat wounded by Link's half-spoken comment. The huge man glanced over Marth's way, with a small grin on his face. "After all, we never got to finish our last fight, did we, Highness?"

Marth rolled his eyes. "I'll fight Ganondorf if that's what he wants," he said coolly, looking at Stoelhart, who had become preoccupied with writing a note on his document. "And I'm assuming that Ganondorf also wants to exact his revenge on Link as well, am I right?"

Ganondorf nodded in a bored sort of way. Link finally clambered up from the floor, a bright light shining in his eyes. "I can kick this guy's massive butt any day of the week," he said haughtily.

"Glad to hear it," Marth enthused. "But we still have one more place left."

"Bowser will play on my side," Ganondorf suggested.

"No, Bowser really had nothing to do with this." Marth waved the suggestion away. "I want to fight Dr. Stoelhart."

Oliver looked up, alarmed. "Excuse me?"

"Marth!" Pit scolded. "What are you doing? Dr. Stoelhart can't fight! He's a psychiatrist!"

"Be at the stadium in ten minutes," Marth said calmly to Ganondorf, Link, and Oliver. "Link and I need to get dressed, so we'll meet you there."

"…You're serious?" Stoelhart, Ganondorf, Link, Ike, Roy, Samus, Sheik, Zelda, Pit, and Quincy all asked in perfect and never-to-be-repeated unison.

Marth smirked, as if he had been expecting that reaction. "Sure I'm serious. It's Saturday. Nothing's going on. What else are we supposed to do with ourselves?"

**xXx**

"So, Doctor, what weapon would you like?" Link asked curiously as he finished lacing up his boots.

Oliver was standing in shell-shocked fascination in the middle of the locker room, looking like he was far out of his comfort zone. Rather than his usual professionally casual attire, he was now wearing thick jeans and a nylon turtleneck, with basic armor plates strapped across his chest, elbows and knees. He looked a bit like he was going into a paintball war, which was sort of similar to what he would be doing. He shrugged lamely, shaking his black hair out of his eyes.

Marth was adjusting the clasp on his cape, and then reached down to fiddle with his belt. "Come on, you can't go into a fight with no weapon."

"He _can,_" Ganondorf growled from across the locker room. "He just doesn't want to."

"You ever take martial arts?" Link asked.

"No," Oliver replied evenly, looking out towards the stadium with a scowl.

"Then you'll definitely want a weapon," Marth said. "What are you good with? Swords, bats, guns? Come on, I'm trying to help you out."

The psychiatrist seemed to be debating it. After a long pause, he said, "I can do guns."

"Alright!" Link said, clapping his hands together. "Now we're getting somewhere. We'll give you a ray gun and a super scope, okay?" He passed the two firearms into Stoelhart's hands, and the psychiatrist twirled them experimentally, getting a feel for their weight. "Now, of the two, the ray gun is more powerful unless you want to try charging up the super—"

"I know, thanks," Oliver said shortly. He shot another nervous glance towards the door. "One more thing."

"Sure," Marth nodded. "Whatever you want."

Oliver grinned for the first time that morning. "I want a chance in this fight, okay?"

"Can't promise anything," Ganondorf was quick to say.

Link shrugged apologetically. "Marth and I will try to go easy on you—"

"We will?"

"—but we can't promise anything either," Link finished. "A brawl's a brawl."

"Exactly," Oliver nodded easily. "That's not what I mean. I'm in an unfamiliar environment here, so I want to put you in one too. Isn't there some way to make everybody invisible?"

The three smashers shared a look. "Well, yeah…" Link said at length. "But we never use it. We all suck at it."

Oliver grinned smarmily again. "Exactly. You said I could have whatever I want."

Marth moaned and walked over to the weapons locker, pulling out four cloaking devices and throwing them to the other fighters. "Fine," he grumbled, and then rolled his eyes and said to himself, "Never try to play mind games with a psychiatrist."

Oliver overheard him and laughed. "_Cave quid dicis, quanto, et cui._"

**xXx**

As it turned out, the idea of another Ganondorf vs. the teenagers fight had gathered a lot of attention, and even more so because of the rumors that the resident psychiatrist had been coerced into fighting as well. Therefore, a small crowd of staffers and brawlers had gathered in the stadium to watch, and a unanimous groan went up from them when they realized that the players were invisible, save for a flicker of light here or a slight haze there.

"This is weird," came Link's voice…out of thin air. Marth glanced down at his own hands, disturbed by the fact that he couldn't see them at all. He could feel Falchion's hilt in his hand, but when he looked at it, there was nothing there.

"Well…" came Angel Fischer's concerned voice over the loudspeaker. "…This'll be…. interesting, ladies and gents. Apparently the players today are Link, his arch nemesis Ganondorf, the prince of Altea—hey, he's not drunk! Maybe he'll be able to stand on his own two feet this time!"

"Shut up, I wasn't drunk!" Marth shouted. "I was hung-over! There's a difference!"

"Difference schmifference," Angel replied. "It was still an epic fail. And, as a surprise, we have a fourth, unauthorized brawler. Apparently it's Dr. Oliver V. Stoelhart, although it's anybody's guess what he's doing on the stage. Does he even have any training? I guess we'll find out. FIGHT!"

Link stepped backwards, not wanting to get hit by an unseen enemy in the first two seconds of the match. There was a flare of blue light to his right (presumably from Falchion), immediately followed by a loud thump and an answering flash of Ganondorf's black magic. Link figured that Marth had already found Ganondorf, and decided that he would stay out of the way. Stoelhart appeared to be doing the same thing, although Link didn't know if that was because the psychiatrist actually had some sort of strategy, or if he was just trying to stay out of the way.

Oliver had the ray gun held loosely in his hand, but hadn't decided whether or not it was good idea to pull the trigger yet. Before he had time to make the decision, something whistled over his head, and a mini fireworks display erupted just behind him, reminding the psychiatrist that he had meant to have a word with Marth, Link and Roy about their little display several nights previous. Honestly, teenagers.

Marth had discovered that it was actually rather easy to defend while invisible; all you had to do was get away from the conflict and your opponent would have no idea where you were. Now attacking…that was another story. The easiest way to find someone while they were like this would be to run into them. No sooner had he thought this than he backed into someone. Judging by the lack of a sword, he assumed it was Dr. Stoelhart. Remembering that the guy had two guns, he quickly skipped backwards, but not fast enough to avoid the pulsing green laser that struck him square in the chest. He tumbled backwards, but then popped back to his feet.

Link spotted the laser and ran over to try and get in on the action. Before he even reached the area, he was blindsided by a huge, invisible bulk that he immediately knew was Ganondorf. The two of them went careening across the stage, knocking the legs out from underneath one of the other fighters. Judging by the clatter of armor and the blue riot of swearing, it must have been Marth. Realizing how vulnerable he was while stuck in this dog pile, Link scrambled out from it and dashed away, and not a moment too soon. A green ray flew across the stage and sent one of the two other brawlers careening into the safety net.

"You still here, Marth?" Link called, and was rewarded by being sucker-punched in the stomach. He dropped to the ground, suddenly unable to breathe for the second time in as many hours, and—adding insult to injury—was immediately blasted backwards by one of Oliver's guns.

"Sorry," came Ganondorf's voice over him. "I'm afraid he's not."

Oliver Stoelhart was tucked safely away in one of the stage's corners and was basically shooting every time he saw movement. So far he hadn't missed. In fact, he may have even gotten a KO. Considering that it had been ages since he'd last shot a handgun, he was a little proud of himself. He caught another flicker of movement slightly to the left from where he had fired last; the movement suggested that it was from a cape of some sort. Taking that into account, he fired off another bolt and heard it connect with a target. The psychiatrist smiled to himself. Not bad. Except for when Marth had brushed into him, he hadn't been touched at all. No, not bad at all.

When Ganondorf had apparently been plucked from over him by yet another burst of green light, Link recognized that he had been given a lucky break and wasted no time scrambling back to his feet. He had seen where the laser had come from, and he sprinted off in that direction, fully aware that when he ran, the cloaking device wouldn't work as well, and he'd be somewhat visible. He would have to move fast to have a shot at winning. The familiar buzz of adrenaline rushed through his veins, making him confident.

Oliver realized too late that he was being charged down. He turned his gun in that direction and fired off two shots. He thought one might have connected, but there was no way to be sure. Either way, the person kept coming.

Link managed to dodge the first shot, but the second hit his shoulder. He spun with the impact, but managed to stay on his feet. A large hand swiped his shoulder, but the fingers couldn't get a grip. Link ran faster—Ganondorf was right on his heels, but he couldn't see him. Surely there was some way he could use that to his advantage. Marth would have some sort of idea, but Marth was already out.

Oliver Stoelhart winced and pulled out the Super Scope from his belt. He had a gun in each hand now, and he fired them both off at once, not caring that he was about to use all his ammo up. He was going out anyway; he might as well take somebody with him.

The impact of the projectiles lifted Link off of his feet and sent him skidding diagonally across the stage. He felt the ground underneath him disappear and reflexively flung an arm up, just catching hold of the stage's brim with his fingertips.

Ganondorf grabbed hold of Oliver's shoulders, sending them both tumbling over the edge. Oliver, who had never fallen off of the stage before, instinctively panicked for a moment before remembering the safety net. He and Ganondorf smacked into it, both of them bouncing away from each other.

Ganondorf chuckled to himself, still invisible. "Got you," he growled as he ripped off his cloaking device, fizzling back into visibility.

"So you did," Oliver said, ever the good sport, plucking the cloaking device off of his chest plate. As he shimmered back into the visible spectrum, he noticed Ganondorf scowl. It took him a minute to realize that the huge man must have believed that he was Link. Oliver glanced up at the stage, where Link was nowhere to be seen.

Marth, who was lying on the safety net where he had fallen, cape splayed out underneath him, glanced up at the stage bemusedly. "Well done, friend," he said quietly.

Up on the stage, Link laughed delightedly, the sound seeming to come from nowhere. It was eerie, not being able to pinpoint the location of the noise.

"Well, it appears that Link is the only one left standing," Angel announced. "So he is the winner. Go Link! Nicely done! Although I might add that our good doctor held his own for awhile, so did Ganondorf. In fact, the only one who couldn't get the hang of the invisibility stage was—"

"SHUT UP!" Marth shouted from the net, his face an angry red color.

Still laughing, Link dropped down into the net, peeling off his cloaking device and flickering back to normal. Marth stood up when he landed, and both of them studiously ignored Ganondorf as they made their way over to Oliver, who was starting to take off his makeshift armor plates.

"Good game," Link said, holding out his hand for a handshake. The psychiatrist accepted the hand and shook it.

Marth repeated the gesture. "I'll admit I underestimated you, Doctor," he teased. "You held your own. Do you have any experience with this sort of thing? SCA? LARP?"

"Do I look like a LARPer?" Oliver asked patronizingly. "Anyway, my past doesn't really matter. What matters is the here and the now. Not to mention that I like my privacy."

"Touché," Marth agreed, and then followed the psychiatrist out of the stadium. Link trailed after the Altean, brushing past Ganondorf without as much as a glance.

"Point to you this time, hero," Ganondorf sneered.

"Indeed," Link sniggered. "Although you're welcome to try again anytime you like."

"Bet on it." Ganondorf dropped a threatening hand on Link's shoulder.

Link smirked and brushed the hand off. "I'll be waiting."

**xXx **

**AN: SCA=Society for Creative Anachronisms. It's a medieval reenactment group. LARP=live-action-roleplaying.**

** Yes! I finally got Oliver's clipboard in there! XD That random phrase that Ollie said in Latin translates to "Beware of what you say, when, and to whom." The reason he keeps speaking in Latin is because he actually has his bachelor's degree in the language, as well as his doctorate in psychology. He's a busy guy (I spent way too much time coming up with his backstory. XD I love that boy so much!).**

**Ganondorf is…an idiot. I try really hard to write him in character, but he always seems to slip. ;_; On the other hand, his idiocy opened up the floodgates for all of the guy's wonderful (?) comebacks. Random note: when I had Ganondorf call Marth a pretty-boy, I had a whole little limerick lined up: "Roses are red, violets are blue, God made me pretty, what the heck happened to you?" (Troll (in the dungeon!), that's not really a limerick…) but it didn't sound like something Marth would actually say out loud, so I didn't put it in there. ^^'**

**Aha! I didn't think I'd get to say this again! MoD's **_**Contest For Those We've Left Behind**_** is open until TOMORROW. This is it, people. Get those entries in! **_**SOGO!**_** I'm looking at you!**

**Ah, some bad news: starting in September when school starts back up again, my updates are going to become severely limited because all of my free-time will be taken up by homework or Cross Country. ;_; On the plus side, CC only lasts for two months, so things should be back up and running normally by November. Just a heads up, because I'll probably forget to mention it later. XD**

**Next chapter will probably be _RawkHawk2.0'_s request. **


	40. Chapter 40: Steering Wheels

**Hoorah, last chapter before school starts! I was—HOLY COW OVER 500 REVIEWS? (*just noticed* I'm so lame.) OMIGAWSH! *spazzes* YAYAYAYAYAY! You guys rock!**

**Thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; Well, Ollie has a bit of a gun background, but I haven't had a chance to go into it at all. XD Yeah, Liam needs to pop up more, doesn't he? ~ Thanks to **_**redhazeKJ**_**; Woot! I have another Oliver fan! Sheik had a knife in her pocket because she's been slightly paranoid ever since the whole assassin thing. :) ~ Thanks to **_**Smarty and the Geek**_**; True dat! Band is the easiest final in the world. ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; Oooh…*wants the game* ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; XD THAT would be epic. ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; Yeah, the adults just sort of roll their eyes at Ganon's evilness. ~ Thanks to **_**FullmetalWizard1995**_**; Thanks so much, you should try playing next time. :) It's really fun. ~ Thanks to **_**BoshiBasher555**_**; Yep, school here starts September 1****st****. Bright and early. ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; Yeah, but they were fighting like ninjas so…(bit of a stretch, I'm sorry). ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Oh yes, that's exactly what happened. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Zantanna's-magical-wish**_**; Somebody actually did that in one of the contest entries for MoD's contest, look up **_**Unnoticed **_**by **_**Sogo**_**. :) (*cue Ike accent* I advertise for my friends!) ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Woot! I'm glad you liked it, although if you're not referring to your contest entry and I'm not quite sure what you left me (noob much? *le sigh* ;_; Forgive my stupidity.) ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; Thanks, 'Zelink' is kinda fun to say, ne? CC=cross country. ~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; Why thank you—I still love the Angel character, so she'll be around for awhile still. :) ~ Thanks to **_**LatteCurlz**_**; Yay! Thank you so much again. :) I'm really happy how Ollie turned out. ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; 'clusterbleep' is an excellent way to describe him, isn't he? XD Thanks for everything! ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Yay! Somebody else who loves Ouran Host Club! XD I hope you enjoy. ~ And a final thanks to **_**Chickyoudon'tknow**_**; Wow, thank you so much. That made my day. :)**

**I think I have the best reviewers on the planet. **

**Anyway, this chapter is **_**RawkHawk2.0's**_** request, although I changed the idea around a bit. I hope you enjoy. XD I also sort of worked_ LatteCurlz_'s request in there as well, but I might do something else with her idea later...either way, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB/SSBM. And I'm not entirely sure if Lucas' hover-board thingy that he enters in has a specific name, so I just called it a hover-board. :\ Hope that doesn't mess anyone up. And yes, apparently Snake has a helicopter. AND (long disclaimer is long), the take-down that they're doing in the beginning is actually a legit take-down. I've done it and it is as epic as it sounds. **

**Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 40: Steering Wheels**

"Do I have it?" Marth asked Snake. The two of them plus Ike were standing on thick, plush mats that had been laid out in one of the gyms for close-combat sparring practice, and Marth and Ike had once again talked the older man into teaching them martial arts take-downs. At the moment, Marth and Ike were standing chest-to-chest, and Marth had an unusual grip on Ike's elbow, which was raised over the taller teenager's head.

After circling around the two of them, Snake nodded. "Now all you have to do is take a step forward."

"This'll never work," Ike said skeptically. "I mean, honestly. Marth, I weigh twenty pounds more than you, and this isn't like the arm-bar takedown. There's no way you're going to—OHFUDGE!"

Marth stepped away from Ike, who had fallen flat on his back and was glaring up at the Altean from the mat.

"I think it works," Snake said coolly.

"'Fudge?'" Marth sniggered as he offered Ike a hand. "Seriously? That's all you could think of?"

Annoyed, Ike grabbed Marth's wrist and twisted, tugging Marth down onto the mats with him. Marth, definitely the lighter of the two, fell spectacularly; tumbling head-over-heels before smacking into a wall. He bounced right back up and stepped into a light-footed fighting stance.

"You wanna go?" he demanded, tossing his head angrily.

Ike clambered back to his feet and mimicked Marth's stance, albeit a bit less gracefully. "The question is, do _you_ wanna go?"

While the two teenagers were exchanging macho lines to prove their manliness over the other, Snake sighed and slipped back over to the weight-lifting side of the room.

Just as Ike had managed to pin Marth, Pit and Quincy burst into the gym, both of them covered in grass-stains.

"Hello," Marth said pleasantly, his voice slightly muffled due to the fact that Ike's shoulder was in his face.

"…Hi," Pit said warily.

"What's up, kid?" Ike asked conversationally, adjusting his position on Marth's back and tugging on the Altean's arm in a way that made him howl and smack the mat with a shout of "Okay! _Okay!_ You win!"

"Um…" Quincy pointed at the two older teenagers. "What exactly is going on?"

"They're being _them_," Snake called out from the bench press.

"Oh, okay," Quincy nodded as if this explained everything. "Anyway, Pit and I were playing football down on the lawn with Lucas, Ness, Nya, Angel and her friends Liam and Masako, and we saw Dr. Stoelhart coming in from the parking lot. So Pit and I broke off to go talk to him, and he was driving a Prius."

"…Seriously?" Ike and Marth asked in unison.

"Seriously," Pit drawled. "Never would have thought, right? So we asked him if he was coming back from a store or something, because he had this bag of chips under his arm—"

"And he just laughed and said 'what, did you think I lived here?'" Quincy picked up the story. "He said that he had been driving from home, so Pit asked 'is that really your car?' and he said 'yeah,' but he could tell we weren't impressed."

"And then he said that he actually has a red corvette back at his house," Pit cut in. "But he can't drive it because it's being restored."

"Stoelhart has a red corvette?" Marth asked, his voice laced with jealously. "Man!" He smacked the mat again with the palm of his hand. "Why does everybody have cool vehicles but us? I mean, Snake's got his helicopter, the fox people have their Landmaster, Wario's got a motorcycle, Lucas has his little hover-board thingy, and now the psychiatrist has a red corvette! And what do we get? A cruddy old Honda Pilot that's not even ours."

"That's what we thought too," Pit said eagerly. "It isn't fair. So we thought, what if we were able to take one of those things out for a spin? Just for fun? I mean, you two guys are old enough to drive, right?"

"I'm guessing that driving a Pilot and driving a helicopter are two very different things, kid," Ike pointed out.

"You're such a spoil-sport!" Marth laughed, finally twisting out from underneath the larger teenager and whacking him upside the head. "They're exactly the same!"

"You kids stay away from my helicopter!" Snake shouted from across the room.

Pit pulled a face. "I guess the helicopter's out then."

"You say that like the other stuff is still in," Ike said nervously.

"Of course it's in," Marth chuckled. "Heck, it's all still in."

**xXx**

They made a slightly awkward crowd sneaking down the weapon's locker later that night: Pit and Quincy were dressed completely in black and were pretending that they were ninjas, scampering down the hallways just out of the beam of light cast by Marth's flashlight. Marth had changed out of his sweaty clothes and was now wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and a too-big shirt that had sleeves that hung over his hands. To replace Ike, who had chickened out at the last minute, Roy padded along beside him. Marth would have asked Link along as well, but Link was known for being terrible with anything involving a gearshift. Not to mention that he might tell someone, just to see Marth get busted.

"This is so awesome," Pit sang as he summersaulted around a corner. "I feel like a spy!"

"You've never snuck around the complex after lights-out?" Marth asked disbelievingly, swinging his flashlight in an arc to catch Pit mid-prance.

"Unlike you, I'm a good boy," the angel said by way of explanation, throwing up a hand to shield his eyes.

"No kidding," Roy laughed quietly, his voice hushed so as not to alert any late-night staffers. "Hey Marth, are you sure we aren't going to get caught? Snake'll be beyond ticked if he finds out."

"Yeah," Marth whispered back. "I'm sure."

"So…no?"

Marth sighed heavily. To this day Roy, Link, and his sister were really the only three people who could generally tell when he was lying through his teeth. "To be honest, I'm sort of expecting Captain Corvette to jump out of the next corner and stab me with his pen or something."

Roy tipped back his head and laughed. Pit and Quincy paused to look at him curiously, and Marth realized then how long it had been since he'd heard Roy laugh like that. Carefree, boyish…Sheik had once told Marth in private that she loved that laugh.

It made the Altean more than a little depressed to think that partially because of her, Roy hadn't been able to laugh like that. On the plus side, something had obviously changed, because here he was…Waking everyone up…!

"Shut up!" Marth hissed, hurriedly clamping a hand over Roy's mouth and stifling the giggles. "You're too loud!"

The four teenagers lapsed into silence, listening intently for the telltale sound of someone shifting or the creak of an opening door.

"Figures that Roy decides to make a big noise right outside Ganondork's room," Quincy quipped in a whisper. Pit snorted sarcastically and nodded, his pale face still illuminated by Marth's flashlight, which the Altean had neglected to turn off before.

"I say we move on," he said hastily, padding cat-like across the carpet and down towards one of the electrical maintenance staircases that brawlers technically weren't supposed to know about. Long hours with nothing to do basically meant that all of the brawlers knew it was there, although they pretended not to. The staircase conveniently emerged right next to the weapons locker, which was less of a locker and more of a cavern used for storing various items brought by various brawlers that did not belong in this world. It was a running joke that if you lost something, it would eventually turn up in the weapon's locket.

"Ah, so they really do have bulletproof vests in here," Roy said nonchalantly, nudging one with his sneaker as he stepped through the heavy doors into the room. "Wonder where these are from."

"Metal Gear Solid?" Quincy—the only one of the four who was somewhat into gaming—suggested, crouching down to pick up a nasty-looking dagger with a serrated blade. "Where the heck is this from?"

Marth kicked the dagger out of the pokemon trainer's hand. It flew through the air and then clattered against a pile of junk before becoming embedded in what looked curiously like a lazy-boy armchair. "Don't touch that. You don't know where it's been. We're looking for the Landmaster keys."

"No need, I can hotwire," Pit piped up.

"Oh please tell me you're joking," Marth moaned, dropping his face into his hands.

"Oh please tell me you're not!" Roy said eagerly.

The Altean prince sank down to the concrete floor. "I have corrupted him completely," he said to himself.

Pit came over and touched Marth's shoulder reassuringly. "I was joking, you know," he said, his voice concerned. "Don't worry about it."

"Then you were lying!" Marth moaned, curling into the fetal position on the concrete floor. "That's even worse! I've corrupted an angel! God's going to smite me! I'm going to be smitten!"

Quincy and Roy both dropped down on their knees next to the Altean, Roy jingling a set of keys in his hand. "Look what we found while you were acting like a girl." He tossed them to Marth, who instantly perked up and snatched the key ring out of the air with his left hand.

"Are these…?" he asked wonderingly.

Roy nodded, more than a little pleased with himself. "Yeah, those're the master keys. Like, to _everything_. Helicopter, hover-board, Landmaster, motorcycle and all."

"Total dibs on the bike," Marth said, and then lurched to his feet and ran across the weapons' locker, making straight for the yellow motorcycle, taking the keys with him.

"Oi! No fair!" Roy snapped. "I want the bike!"

"Suit yourself," Marth said, and suddenly dropped the keys and veered left, making for the hover-board that was sitting at the ready on a pile of discarded sword blades, almost begging to be ridden. The Altean jumped on it and rammed the key that he had pried off of the ring before dropping it into the lock that held the board to the ground. The hover-lifters engaged, and in another moment he was zooming out of the weapon's locker with a loud whoop, snatching a helmet from a rack as he flew past.

Pit, eager to get in on the chase, unfurled his wings and leapt after him. Roy had grabbed the keys from the ground, barely slowing down as he did so, and made it to Wario's bike. Quincy sprinted after him, wondering what vehicle he should be making a beeline for.

Roy gunned the bike's engine and tossed the keys to the pokemon trainer, who somehow managed to catch them despite the fact that—compared to the others—he was somewhat athletically challenged. With a sigh, Quincy saw that the only two keys left were left: the helicopter and the Landmaster, neither of which did he have a clue how to drive. He figured that the Landmaster would at least be a little easier than a full blown helicopter, so he took the larger of the two keys and ran in the direction of that. He clambered up the short ladder into what he thought of as the cockpit and rammed the master keys into the ignition. The small, tank-like machine rumbled to life, and Quincy realized that the steering and pedal mechanisms were only slightly more complicated than the average go-kart. His confidence swelled; he could do this.

Marth pinwheeled around a corner and nearly flipped his board, but managed to right himself at the last minute. As it was, his tennis shoes squeaked as he struggled to keep his balance, and Pit zipped past him before realizing that Marth was having problems and flying back just as the aforementioned had finally regained control of the board.

"Are you okay not having a vehicle or anything?" Marth asked, adjusting the strap on his helmet.

Pit nodded happily. "I never get to fly this fast!" he explained, his face flushed. "In the brawls, I'm weighed down with my bow and things, and when I'm not fighting I don't want to run into anyone. But everyone's in bed now!"

"Race you."

Pit's blue eyes glittered. "You really want to?"

Marth's mouth quirked up. "Who do you think I am? We race to the ground access bay door, alright? First one to make it there without getting caught wins."

"What was this about a race?" Roy asked, purring up in the motorcycle, which was surprisingly quiet given its size. Pit absently wondered if Roy had messed with the muffler or something to make it quieter. Like Marth, Roy was wearing a helmet.

A series of quiet creaks and whirrs echoed through the corridor, and—to everyone's surprise—the Landmaster eased around the corner as well, pulling up to a stop behind Roy. It had just enough room to maneuver in the hallway, almost as if the stadium had been designed to accommodate it. Up in the seat was a beaming Quincy, who waved at them triumphantly.

"Somebody say race?" he asked perkily.

**xXx**

Their ragtag group of four paused right outside the bedroom hallway and momentarily cut their engines (with the exception of Pit). The door to the exit bay was just around the other side of the corner at the far side of the hallway. The trick would be to make it there without waking anybody up.

"If you get caught, you automatically lose," Roy suggested, and everyone else nodded.

"On three," Marth said quietly. "One…Two…"

"Three—go!" Roy hollered all of a sudden and twisted hard on the handle of his bike while simultaneously stomping on a pedal. With a loud shriek from his tires, he flew off down the hallway; a loud roar practically shaking the walls as the engine caught. There was no way anybody could have slept through that.

"Idiot!" Marth shouted, and took off on his board in pursuit. Pit leapt off of the ground and used a wall like a springboard, launching himself down the hallway at speeds that he never thought he could reach. Up in the Landmaster, Quincy crunched through several gears before finding one that he liked. He stomped on a pedal, and the Landmaster lurched forward as well, nearly as fast as Pit, who now had to fight to stay ahead of it.

It was a game of time now. They had to round the corner and get out of sight before any of the curious (and probably crabby, considering that it was almost midnight) brawlers came out to investigate the strange sounds that were suddenly echoing through their bedchambers. Roy twisted the handlebars on his bike and leaned hard, tilting the bike almost at a forty-five angle to the ground as he made the tight turn. Marth banked too late and actually glanced off of the wall, flying off of his board and tumbling to the ground—but he was back on his feet and leaping back onto the board with milliseconds, determination making his eyes spark. Pit rounded the corner with ease and whooped as he passed the Altean, but—in Marth's defense—he was used to such maneuvers. With another huge groan of complaint from the gears, Quincy managed to twist around the sharp corner as well, although one of the sides of the Landmaster scraped some of the paint off of the wall.

And then they were in the clear: Roy flew past the bay door, smacking the 'open' button with his elbow as he zoomed by. Pit soared out into the night air after him, his white wings gleaming in the moonlight. Marth, who was just starting to get the hang of his board, flew out after him. The Landmaster churned its way outside behind Roy, and they both landed heavily in the grass despite the fact that Nintendo had been bragging about their gravity-arresting exits for years.

"YEAH!" Roy shouted up at the night sky, wrenching off his helmet and punching the cold air.

"You're an idiot!" Marth yelled down at him, pivoting the board sharply in the air and almost accidentally dislodging himself from it. As he regained his balance, he continued; "With a capital, size seventy-two italic 'I.' Everyone will have been woken up by that!"

"Wasn't it such a rush though?" Roy asked dazedly, tipping his head back to look up at the stars.

"I'm not an adrenaline junkie like you," Marth said pointedly, bringing his board down closer to the ground. Pit didn't follow him, and proceeded to start loop-de-looping his way around the stadium, whooping loudly as he did so.

"Three words," Roy sighed patiently. "Dairy. Queen. Incident."

Quincy shot Marth a questioning look, his face appearing as if he was floating as his black clothes blended into the night. "What exactly happened with that whole thing? You two and Link keep talking about it."

"Some things are best left unsaid, kiddo," Marth said with a grin, and then stomped on the back of the hover-board, sending it spinning up into the air after the angel.

Quincy watched them whizz around the stadium with a grin on his face. After a moment, he turned to Roy. "We should probably go in soon," he suggested.

"Yeah," Roy sighed, leaning back in the seat of Wario's bike. But then he rammed his helmet back over his bright hair and gunned the engine again. "But not yet! Race you to the road!"

Quincy shot a look up at the stadium. "They can probably see us…" he mumbled.

"Come on!" Roy scoffed, puttering his bike in circles around the Landmaster. "If they've seen us they've seen us. If they haven't, they haven't. It sure as heck isn't going to change what I'm going to do. It's not like we'll be in any less trouble if we quit now. We might as well have fun now and beat up Marth later for talking us into it."

Quincy thought about that statement for a minute, and then smirked and wrenched at his gearshift again. "You're on."

**xXx**

"So, does _anybody_ know what the heck happened last night?" Zelda asked at breakfast, her voice concerned.

Marth peeled his face off of the table to see Ike shoot him a glare and shove his coffee mug in the Altean's direction. Marth made a subtle 'shh' gesture and gratefully sipped from the mug. They had come in from outside at around two in the morning, and it had taken them another half-hour to retrace their steps back to the weapons locker without waking everybody up again. The tiredness was showing on all four of them, but Marth and Roy had fared slightly better than the younger two.

"So, let's go over it again," Sheik said patiently, nibbling on a doughnut. "Around midnight, everybody heard a strange noise from the hallway, but when some of us went out to look, all we saw was a scratch on the wall, and nobody has any idea what the heck happened, right?"

"Right," Roy nodded. "I mean, I slept right through it, but whatever came through must've been big to tear a hole in the wall like that."

"My money's on aliens," Link said sarcastically.

"…Yeah," Quincy said distantly, staring blindly down at his plate, which had a cold omelet sitting on it that the pokemon trainer had eaten one bite from before disregarding. "I slept through it too."

"But you look so tired," Samus said. Her eyes weren't looking at the pokemon trainer at all, but were focused firmly on the blue-haired man who was now drinking deeply from Ike's coffee mug, like she knew that something had happened, and she knew that Marth had somehow gotten mixed up in the middle of it.

"I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep," Quincy said defensively. He spotted someone at the opposite end of the cafeteria and perked up visibly. "Nya?" he called over to the girl standing awkwardly by the doorway. "What are you doing here?"

Nya made her way over to the table, her expression confused. "Hi Quincy," she said neutrally.

"Something the matter?" Marth asked offhandedly, passing Ike the empty coffee cup back to him. Ike took the cup, and then glared at Marth, as if he hadn't expected the prince to drink all of it.

"Yeah, actually," Nya said slowly. "Someone apparently went into the weapons locker sometime last night, but they didn't take anything. Some stuff had obviously been moved, but everything was still there, and nothing had been added. I'm supposed to be asking if any of you guys know anything about it."

Marth, Roy, Quincy, and Pit all shared a look.

"I don't know anything about it," Pit said, shoving his empty tray away. "Maybe somebody needed something from in there and happened to bump a few things as he or she was looking."

"Maybe," Nya said, but she didn't sound convinced.

"I'm sorry we couldn't help," Marth said dismissively, and then turned back to Link. "Hey, didn't you used to have a skateboard in your room somewhere?"

"Yeah, but I never figured out how to use it," Link said as he spread some margarine on a bagel. "Why?"

"I just wanted to try riding it at some point."

"Why?" Link pressed, some sixth sense telling him that his friend wasn't telling the whole truth.

Marth shot a sideways look at Ike, who just rolled his eyes and got up from the table to refill his coffee. "I don't know," he said quietly. "Just an urge."

**xXx**

Shielded from the group of teenagers by a partition, Snake finished his bowl of cereal as he continued to listen to their conversation. A sly smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but he said nothing.

**xXx**

**AN: Such is Snake's nature…He always comes off as pretty mellow when I write him. XD You know, I've noticed that Roy seems to have less of a moral compass than Marth—weird or what? And the two of them have managed to corrupt the little ones as well…tsk tsk. Why did I give Oliver a corvette, you ask? Because I felt like it. That was honestly the first car to pop into my head. XD **

**Some news: LOTS of you are asking me to explain the Dairy Queen Incident, so I started a poll on my profile as to how I should do it. Let me know what you think there. :) Also, ****MoD's **_**Contest For Those We've Left Behind**_** is closed, and judging should start soon. I might post updates here as we start getting results.**

**Some more **_**MessengerOfDream **_**related news: he approached me yesterday (I think…) asking if he could write a one-shot for this story. He's already written an awesome gift fic for me (**_**The Game: Young Blood**_**), and considering that I'm not going to be able to write for a bit due to school and sports and my horrific writer's block, I basically said 'heck yes!' So the next chapter will be a guest author. :) I'm sure it'll be of a much higher quality than the stuff I usually dish out—I'm really looking forward to it. XD Thanks again, MoD! I really need to think of a way to repay you…**

**But anyway, after that, it's back to requests. :) Until then! Please review!**


	41. Chapter 41: Serendipity

**Hello. **

**That's all I can really say at the moment. Two month hiatus, you must've thought I died. But look, I didn't! And my cross-country season is over as of tomorrow, so The Game is officially back up and running, people! '**

**HUGE thank you to everyone who's still with me! :) **

**Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; I finally planned out I'm going to work Star Trek in there. It is officially planned, and it is coming. ~ Thanks to **_**SKTB**_**; Um, yeah. But Sonic isn't human, so that's why I don't write him much. He actually pops up in the next chapter. XD ~ Thanks to **_**ttme123**_**; Please check out the AN at the bottom of the fic and I'll tell you how to get the DQ incident written about. ;P ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; *0* Oh my gosh thank you so much for the community feature! Oh my gosh oh my gosh! *geek out* SO COOL! ~ Thanks to **_**anomynous**_**; Yeah, a landmaster wouldn't actually go that fast. XD I totally need to go a Quincy geek-out chapter now….That's priceless. And yes, I'm alive. Sorry about that….~ Thanks to **_**Lost Triforce**_**; Please see the author's note at the end of this chapter for how to make your request a reality. ;) ~ Thanks to **_**Sir StarlIl**_**; I have neglected your PM again…I'm sorry. ;_; Anyway, EPIC rimshot. It made me laugh. ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; I'm glad it was pure win. XD ~ Thanks to **_**GuideLucario**_**; ….Dude, I salute you from tramping through 40 chapters of randomness in one sitting. That takes extreme skill. ~ Thanks to **_**ChickIdon'tknow**_**; Ah, Roy…he's adorable. ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; Oh yes, the DQ incident will pop up eventually. ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; The DQ incident will be explained—How did I forget about the Arwing? ;_; ~ Thanks to **_**Angel**_**; GO OLIVER! ~ Thanks to **_**Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz**_**; Thank you very much. I actually had something planned with your Jigglypuff idea. I'll go through my notes and find it for you. :) ~ Thanks to **_**Zantanna's-magical-wish**_**; Slight change of plan… ~ Thanks to **_**redhazeKJ**_**; YES! *fist pump* Paintball wars FTW. I'm totally doing that. ~ Thanks to **_**Smarty and the Geek**_**; Um, Captain Falcon and Pit probably won't be cosplaying, but now I really want to do some sort of Batman spoof. XD ~ Thanks to **_**LatteCurlz**_**; Sorry this chapter was so delayed! ~ Thanks to **_**Lost Triforce**_**; They totally would. Nuff said. "I don't wanna grow up, I wanna be a Toys R Us kid!" ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Yeah, apparently Lucas' hoverboard is actually called Saturn's-Table or something like that, so… ~ Thanks to **_**PrincessDiMimi**_**; It's all good! Thanks so much! ~ Thanks to **_**Doggyzoe**_**; Three swordsmen FTW, ne? ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; WoOt! Whenever you're ready. :) **

**So, um, slight change of plans. **_**MessengerOfDreams**_** was struck down with writer's-block, so he's unable to write this chapter. He swears he'll pop up again at some point. I hope this doesn't bust anybody's bubble. :\ You just get me, which—after two months of no MouseMaster42+her plot bunny Hershel, maybe that's alright. XD Anyway, this chapter isn't quite as fluffy as my others, just because I was in the mood to try writing something more serious. However, don't get your panties in a knot, because I've got the next several chapters half-written, and they're all back up to my normal level of craziness. Bear with me—I'm trying to get back into the swing of things! You get some quality Smarthus though, so it's all kosher.**

**I'm actually not thrilled with the way this came out, but I'm sick of editing it. :\ Hopefully it's at least semi-decent...(?) Maybe?**

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, not even the songs. They're just what I've been listening to.**

**Please read, enjoy, review, and maybe rejoice a little at my return. **

**Chapter 41: Serendipity**

Samus was engaged in a staring match with her digital clock. Her room was darkened, and the only light at all came from the neon numbers that she was glaring at. At the moment, they read 2:43, but she had rolled over to start looking at them almost an hour ago. She had no idea why she wasn't able to sleep, although she had been awake long enough to realize that it wasn't caffeine or anything like that; if it was it would've already worn off.

The killer of the whole scenario was that she had honestly tried to go to bed early. And here she was, almost six hours after turning off her light, still awake. She had exhausted (pun unintended, unfortunately for her) every falling-asleep trick that she knew, but nothing seemed to work. About an hour ago, she had simply resigned herself to the insomnia and started watching the minutes slowly tick by on the clock, but now she was getting antsy again.

With a quiet moan, she gave up and decided to use her failsafe technique that she had only put off using because she hadn't wanted to get out of bed. She slithered from her tangled sheets and began fumbling through the drifts of junk that had piled up all over her floor, looking for her iPod. She had vague, sleep-deprived memories of flinging it from her nightstand in a fit of frustration when her original strategy of listening to music until she fell asleep didn't work, and now she had no idea where it had landed. Her hands skittered across a jumpsuit that had gotten stained that she had meant to wash but never remembered to take down to the laundry room, a pile of Elf Quest graphic novels that were older than she was but still managed to be interesting, what was either a brassiere or a tank top, and finally one of her fingers got tangled in the cord of one of her ear buds. She followed the cord and eventually fished out her iPod.

After putting in the headphones and cranking up the volume, Samus yanked out a pair of sweatpants to wear over her short shorts and tucked the iPod into the elastic waistband. She crouched down to the carpet and began another search similar to the search for her music player, which eventually resulted in a pair of mismatched socks and a hair tie. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and snapped the band around it, decided that she didn't want to go looking for a pair of shoes, and stepped out into the hallway with the intent of walking into the stadium to watch the stars, which always calmed her down enough to sleep. As she closed her door behind her, she realized that she was a bit hungry, and decided that she'd make a beeline for the cafeteria first to see if there was anything she could snack upon.

The darkness of the corridor somehow managed to be even darker than her bedroom. Because she was reluctant to take out her headphones, she resorted to her sense of touch, feeling her way down the wall. She passed by Zelda's door, and then Quincy's…She nearly got a paper cut from one of the witticisms Marth had taped up on his door, and then almost got a splinter on Ike's from the large dent that—if the boy's stories were to be believed—had been put there during an unauthorized brawl that had ended with a sword sunk halfway through the wood of the bedroom door.

After safely navigating her way out of the residential wing, Samus struck out towards the cafeteria. She took the longest route she could think of, bobbing her head to the music that her iPod decided to pull up on its shuffle. She went from listening to Virus Inc. to Foster the People to Gym Class Heroes in the space of about fifteen minutes of wandering. When she finally reached her destination, the song lapped over into Deer in the Headlights, but she suddenly stopped concentrating on it.

"Agh," Samus muttered, flinging up a hand to shield her eyes from the piercing light that—upon closer examination—wasn't spelling out from the cafeteria itself, but was instead coming out of the small kitchenette off to the side. She plucked out her ear buds, choking off the Owl City that had been playing, and took a step towards the fluorescent light, wincing as it stung her unadjusted eyes. "Who's in there?" she called.

A male silhouette stepped into the doorway. "Sam?" asked a quiet, obviously sleep-deprived voice into the darkness. "That you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Samus said, walking towards the light with one arm still up above her face. She stumbled over the door-jam of the kitchen as the sterilized tile gave way to polished hardwood, but there was immediately an arm at her elbow to steady her before she could fall.

"What are you doing here?" Marth—of course it had to be him—asked, taking a step away to allow her to regain her bearings.

"I couldn't sleep," Samus said a little defensively, finally recognizing the sound of water bubbling somewhere in the kitchen. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah," the Altean said conversationally, not acting at all like it was three in the morning. "But the fact that you couldn't sleep doesn't explain what you're doing in the kitchen."

"I was hungry." Samus rolled her eyes and smacked Marth's shoulder. "Now why are you here?"

"I was hungry too," he said plainly, rocking back on his heels and attempting to stuff his hands into his pockets before realizing that the checkered flannel pajamas he was wearing didn't have any.

'Why is there water boiling?" She gestured at the vibrating pot on the stove that she had finally identified as the source of the noise.

"Ramen," he admitted sheepishly, rubbing at something on his nose. "I'm making ramen."

"Because you were hungry?"

Marth shrugged. "We all get our cravings. But I couldn't find the little flavoring packet, so I wasn't sure what I was going to do…"

"Huh…" Samus wandered over to the pot, where there were two little squares of ramen noodles soaking in the boiling water. She prodded at them curiously with the fork that was also sitting in the water. "You made enough for two people," she observed.

"I was hoping you'd know to come share it with me," Marth said in a seductive voice, appearing silently behind her to poke her side and making her jump.

"Or you're just a pig," she replied, making him to jab him with the fork.

He skipped out of range and laughed. "Or I'm a pig," he agreed. "I said I was hungry, didn't I?"

"Funny that we'd meet like this though," Samus said thoughtfully, returning to stirring the softening noodles with the fork. "I mean, what are the odds?"

"Yeah, quelle coinkydink," Marth said nonchalantly. Samus turned around to look at him with the intent of asking him what the word 'quelle' meant, and accidentally brushed her hand against the metal ramen pot.

"_Fudge!_" she yelped, dropping the fork to clutch at her scalded knuckles.

"Oh, well done you," Marth sighed, grabbing Samus around the shoulders and tugging her over to the sink, whereupon he pried her hand away from where she was cradling it against her chest and thrust it under a jet of cold of water. Immediately, the burning sensation melted away, and her hand began to numb.

Through this whole episode, Samus had completely frozen, which was strange for her.

She thought about why she might have choked up like that as Marth examined her hand underneath the water. After a minute, he took a dish rag, soaked it, and then wrapped it around her hand and turned off the tap.

"Well," he said smugly as he tied the rag into an improvised bandage and gave it back to her. "That was an adventure, wasn't it?"

Samus looked up at him blankly. After a minute, she blinked, and then flushed. "Oh jeez, I'm sorry…" she said belatedly. "I was so useless. I'm usually not like that. I…"

"Hey, you're alright, aren't you?" he said chidingly. "You're just tired, and you were startled. Anybody's freeze up for a minute." He smirked and looked down at her hand. "The burn didn't look that bad. It'll probably be healed in a few days."

"I've had worse," Samus nodded. "I'm just tired, like you said. It's fine."

Marth raised his eyebrows and leaned against the counter. "You've had worse, you say?"

"Well yeah. Duh." Samus turned around and pulled her hair off of her back to show the pale, feathery scar that covered her left shoulder blade. "It's from a close range explosion when I wasn't wearing my jumpsuit," she explained.

Marth's fingertips skimmed across the burn scar. "Ouch," he sympathized, but then continued with, "I've got a better one." He yanked up on his shirt, revealing a pale, faded pattern that blossomed across the side of his chest. "Dragon fire," he bragged. "Beat that."

Samus tilted her head back and pointed at a pink line that ran just above her collarbone. "Space pirate knife."

He flipped his sleeve up to uncover a slash just below his elbow. "Also from a pirate, but this was an axe."

"An_ axe_," Samus echoed disbelievingly. "I would've thought that if you'd been hit with an axe you...you know...wouldn't have an arm anymore or something."

"I was wearing a leather sleeve with a gauntlet over it."

"Ah," Samus nodded. "That'd explain it."

"Indeed. And it wasn't a very good axe."

Samus grinned. "It doesn't really matter anyway," she said coolly. "I still got one on you."

He crossed his arms and smirked, waiting.

She reached down and pulled up the pant leg of her sweatpants, revealing a coiling pink scar that wound up her leg.

"That's familiar," Marth said drolly. "I get bruises like that every time I tick you off."

"Yep. I was teaching a cadet how to use the whip and he got me once when we were sparring."

Marth laughed. "That's a wonderfully embarrassing story, but I've still got a better one."

"No way," Samus groaned. "What beats getting zapped with your own weapon?"

"This." The Altean brushed back his bangs, showing a very pale, obviously very old, crescent-shaped scar right at his hairline.

"And that's from…what?" Samus asked.

"I got whacked with a scepter."

Samus burst out laughing. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," he enthused. "My father accidentally hit me when he was arguing with a diplomat. He gestured like so"—Marth flung his arms out wide to demonstrate—"not remembering that I was standing right behind him, and _bam!_ Down went the prince of Altea. Blood all over the rugs."

"That's so cute!" Samus burst out. "How old were you?"

"Eight or nine," Marth shrugged. "But the worst bit was that this happened just a week after my friend Merric tripped me when we were playing and I fell into a magic circle and accidentally poofed myself all the way over to the island of Talys, which is about three day's travel from home. After that whole accident and now the scepter thing, my reputation as a klutz was cemented in the minds of everyone present."

"But you're the opposite of a klutz!" Samus protested, grabbing onto Marth's sleeve with the burnt hand that she had honestly forgotten all about in the heat of the debate.

"Balance came with puberty," he explained, leaning up against the countertop again. All of a sudden, he leapt away. "We forgot the ramen!" he yelled. "Aah! How could we forget the ramen? Oh please don't be burnt I'm so hungry…!"

"Aw," Samus sighed as Marth started trying to pry the lump of congealed noodles apart. "Are they unsalvageable?"

"Actually…no." He sounded surprised, and then held up the fork with a normal-looking ramen noodle hanging off of it to show her. "They look fine." He looked back down into the water confusedly. "I guess I forgot how long they take to cook…"

"Except we still don't have the flavoring mix," Samus pointed out, glancing at the stovetop clock and noticing that it now read 3:11. "What are you going to do? Eat it with soy sauce, or what?"

"I actually thought of something we could try," Marth said, and tossed a small package towards Samus. She snatched it out of the air and read the label as Marth took the pot off of the stove and expertly dumped the contents through a strainer in the sink. There was an explosion of steam, and Samus had to squint to read the labeling of the thing he had thrown at her.

"Isn't this from the macaroni and cheese box?" she asked incredulously when she finally made it out.

"Yep, I thought it'd be worth a shot." Before Samus had a chance to comment on how 'college-freshman' this seemed to her, he had ripped open the packet and dumped the artificially orange powder inside onto the limp ramen that he had plopped back into the pot and started to stir it all around with the fork. "How's your hand doing?"

"It's alright," Samus said. "It only hurts when I concentrate on it."

There was a silence where the only sound in the kitchen was Marth whisking furiously at the ramen, his fork scraping along the bottom of the pan and his occasional muttered curse as the sticky noodles entangled themselves around the utensil.

Samus finally broke the silence as he jiggled the cheesy ramen into two bowls with a quiet, "Hey Marth?"

He looked up, the blue in his eyes emphasized by the light shadows underneath them. "Yeah?"

"It's nice…" she said awkwardly. "It's nice eating together like this. It's much more fun than me wandering around by myself. So…thanks, I guess. Thanks for making me ramen, and for…"

She trailed off lamely and scowled at the floor, frustrated with her inability to string together her thoughts the way she wanted to. Generally she just had to look at Marth and the words came straight to her. But—and perhaps it was because she was tired, or perhaps she was simply feeling a little more vulnerable than she liked to feel—she couldn't quite seem to say what she wanted to say.

"Anytime," he said, kindly ignoring her obviously discomfort and passing her a bowl of the orange-stained noodles with a pair of chopsticks wedged in them. "I personally much prefer having somebody else to talk to rather than just making food by myself for myself." He smiled gently, the grin for once completely devoid of any ulterior motive or cunning. It was simply warm, and made Samus want to smile at him in return. It made her want to trust him.

That had always been her downfall: she could never really trust people. She had a hard time trusting pure people, much less someone as unpredictable as Marth.

And yet…

Shaking off the thoughts that she didn't want to consider, Samus jumped on the first idea that popped into her sleep-deprived head, grabbed hold of Marth's sleeve, and tugged him towards the door.

"Where're we going?" Marth asked, grabbing his own bowl of ramen and following as she led him out of the kitchen. "Sam?" he asked again when she didn't answer. "Where are we going?"

"Just follow me. I'm going to cure your insomnia," she said reassuringly over her shoulder and tightened her bandaged grip on his hand. She walked down the hallways with a purpose, tracing the route she had originally meant to take earlier that night, making her way to the center of the complex.

"Samus?" Marth asked quietly as he started to realize where she was taking him. "Are we…?"

"Yes," she said, and pulled the Altean through the door that she had just opened out into the completely empty, open-roofed stadium where the two of them had spent so much time. It looked strange and different in the dark without all of its usual floodlights.

The night was warm and humid, the stars tiny pin-pricks of light in a cloud-littered sky. The stadium was suspended high enough in the air that all of the usual disruptive sounds of the night were lost, and the world was just…silent, and quietly passing by.

"It's beautiful," Marth said, his voice distant and awestruck as he sank into one of the plush stadium seats, his eyes focused on the glittering stars overhead.

"It is, isn't it?" Samus concurred, observing the way the moonlight played on Marth's hair, turning the navy to black and silver, and how every single star seemed to be reflected in his eyes. And now she noticed the pale scar at his temple, and she knew the old wounds that had scarred his body, and she knew from her own experiences that those wounds often went much deeper. There were wounds that went so deep that they could never heal…and to her it seemed that the Brawl competition seemed to attract these wounded people, and before you knew it, these people had found something of themselves in one another. And they began to heal together...

"I come here whenever I want to get away from it all," she explained softly. "I just watch the stars for a bit, and then I can always go back to sleep."

"I can see why…" Marth murmured, and then he blinked and the mood was lost. He gestured to the steaming bowl in his hand. "Try the ramen."

Samus clumsily manipulated the chopsticks and shoveled a large mouthful of noodles into her mouth.

"And the verdict…?" he asked.

"Oh. My gosh," Samus gasped, and then speared another chunk and stuffed it into her mouth as well. Around it, she mumbled, "It's disgustingly delicious!"

"'Disgustingly?'" he laughed, and then took a bite from his own bowl and nodded thoughtfully to himself. "Yeah, you're right. It's sort of _wrong_, and yet…" He prodded the congealed mess with his chopstick. "Yet, it's…really kind of good."

"We," Samus said proudly, "Have just invented the next snack food of college."

"May the lazy freshmen follow in our high cholesterol footsteps!" Marth agreed, holding his bowl aloft in some sort of salute to the sky.

"Ramen isn't that bad for you, is it?" Samus asked skeptically.

Marth shrugged. "Don't know. I don't believe in reading the labels on food. It ruins all the fun. How's your hand doing?"

"It hardly hurts anymore."

"I'm glad." The Altean set his empty bowl on the ground, stretched, and looked up at the dark sky again. After a moment of silence, he turned to Samus and asked, "You ready to go to bed yet?"

Samus thought about it as she finished her noodles, and then drew her knees up to her chest and absently started picking out constellations. "Is it alright if we stay out here a bit longer?"

"Oh, good." He sounded relieved. "I was worried you'd say yes."

**xXx**

Samus opened her eyes to blue, and at first she thought that she was back in her room, where the walls were painted the color. But the ceiling, which was what she thought she was looking at, was supposed to be white. So she couldn't be in her bed. Was she still dreaming?

She sat up a little, and then froze as something fell out of her hair and onto her shoulder. She blinked dazedly into what she now realized was the noon sun, and then squinted down at the object that had fallen into the neck of her tank top. It was her earbud—and tinny music was pulsing out of it.

She screwed it into her ear to hear the song 'Sweet Serendipity' playing at a low volume. Samus smiled and reached up towards the sky with both hands.

There was a soft rustle behind her, and she turned to look at the blue-haired boy slowly waking up in the seat next to hers. After several slow blinks, he finally seemed to remember where he was, and looked up at her and simply smiled up at her.

"Good morning."

**xXx**

**In my opinion, Marth and Samus are both pretty distrusting and are more than a little untrustworthy (Marth more than Samus), and they both like messing around with the other but hate the feeling of being messed with. So their relationship is difficult—it goes from being mature and at least somewhat trusting, to blowing up and both of them getting defensive and snarky, and then back to tentative-romantic again. XD I just felt like writing about the more romantic side of things. **

**It also pays to say that the original snippet of dialog at the end was supposed to go "Good morning." "I love you." "I know." And you weren't supposed to know who said what, but I decided at the last minute that I didn't like it and shortened it. If you're a shipper and want to believe that the longer version is what happened, go for it. :)**

**IMPORTANT INFO CONCERNING THE DQ INCIDENT: I have decided to leave it up to my readers how it will be explained, so I left a poll open on my profile page. Just click on MouseMaster42, and vote for the option you want to see written about. I'll go with popular demand. :) **

**So, anyway, I am back!**

**Next chapter is planned to either be **_**LatteCurlz's**_** request of a race (cross-country FTW!), or **_**Sogo's **_**request of a blackout. :)**

**Please review!**


	42. Chapter 42: Blackout

**CHAPTER 42! 42 IS THE MEANING OF LIFE!**

**Oh my gosh. I was so amazed at how many of you are still with me. So I reward you with a super-long chapter featuring all of my main characters. :) **

**Onto the thanks! Thanks to **_**MusicGamer**_**; Woot! I have convinced a nonbeliever! Seriously, try it. It's delicious. ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Seriously? Wow…I feel awesome, thank you. :) ~ Thanks to **_**Mariko Midori**_**; They didn't lose the packet, it was just missing. Like a defect. XD ~ Thanks to **_**HyperJuggernaut**_**; Kirby is pretty awesome…And I realize that the star thing was cliché, but it was fun to write. Was it over the top? ~ Thanks to **_**RawkHawk2.0**_**; Thank you so much! :D I always worry about the pairings, so I'm glad it's turned out alright! ~ Thanks to the ever-awesome **_**Sir StarlIl**_**; Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not dead. *0* Holy cow. Samus vs. Indiana Jones…That's crazy. XD Anyway, very smooth with the techno thing. Lord knows I've been there. ._. ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; Fanart would be awesome, I'll mention it. Thanks! ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; School is part of it, yes. Anyway, I hope you did alright on your geometry test! ~ Thanks to **_**Zatanna's-magical-wish**_**; The DQ incident is indeed surrounded in mystery. *strokes imaginary beard* ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitrey**_**a; YAY! XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Yeah, sorry for twisting Marth's character. The way I see it, he's an excellent strategist, and I'd follow him off the end of the planet in battle, but I think it'd be really hard to trust him in a relationship. It'd be hard to tell what was genuine emotion and what was just part of a plan, y'know? Thanks! :) ~ Thanks to **_**FullmetalWizard1995**_**; Awesome! Another Smarthus supporter! ~ Thanks to **_**DemonColours**_**; Owl City FTW! Thank you so much. :) I really like how the whole Smarthus dynamic plays out. ~ Thanks to **_**GameGuy12**_**; Keep drinking that chocolate milk, it'll make you grow up strong. XD Roy would sleep in. Thanks for the request! ~ Thanks to **_**NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95**_**; Holy cow it took me so long to type your username right. XD I really like the Six Flags idea, it'll pop up at some point. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Cardcaptornicole**_**; Voila, the ice-climbers actually are in this one! ~ Thanks to **_**Angel**_**; Wooot! I'm not dead! Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to **_**katie**_**; Yep, it's the blackout. :3 ~ Thanks to **_**Toxic Ink**_**; Epic username BTW (I've said it before…). Not so much terror as epicness, actually… ~ Thanks to **_**Lost Triforce**_**; I'm very impressed with myself for understanding your French. XD ~ Thanks to **_**anon**_**; Oh my gosh that would have been so funny! I wish I'd thought of that. X`D ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; Smiles are worth a million words. :) ~ Thanks to **_**PrincessDiMimi**_**; I'm so glad you enjoyed! Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to new reviewer **_**PockyGlameow**_**; I'm always impressed when anybody makes it through all 41 chapters. XD I'm so glad you love Ollie, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story. Welcome aboard! ~ And a final thanks to **_**Chickyoudon'tknow**_**; Ooh…that is an awesome song…I don't generally do song-fics, but I might make an exception. ;)**

**Seriously guys, I was sort of hoping for a kind welcome, but you guys blew me away with all of your awesome reviews and spazzes. This may be the longest thanks section yet. Thank you so much! I have the best reviewers in the world. :) **

**So with that, I give you my buddy **_**Sogo**_**'s request of a blackout. I put lots of my signature craziness into this, and I'm really happy with how it turned out, considering that I haven't written any of these people in two months. Please pardon any OOCness, I'm still trying to get the hang of the dialog again. I think it's alright though. :) Maybe a bit over-the-top, but hey. It's me. **

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except for Oliver V. Stoelhart, who seems to have developed a little fan community of his own. (heeheehee…he's that awesome) Kids, don't break glow-sticks—the stuff will do weird things to your skin. I may or may not speak from experience. ;_;**

**Please read, enjoy, and review! :D**

**Chapter 42: Blackout **

"Royal flush. I win!" Roy hollered, throwing down his cards onto the carpet and earning furious roars from the others as he started scooping his winnings into his lap.

"Aha," Sheik said suddenly, and reached into the sleeve of Roy's sweater and produced a card that appeared to have been hidden inside. "He was cheating. Put the candy back in the pot, bucko."

"Wha…? I wasn't cheating!" Roy protested. "Sheik set me up!"

"Are you suggesting that Sheik wasn't telling the truth?" Pit asked slyly.

Roy scowled, and then shoved the pile of tootsie rolls he had actually legitimately won back into the center of the circle and made a rude hand gesture at Sheik, which caused Ike to whack the back of his head.

The whole mess had actually started when Pit had explained earlier that morning that he didn't know how to play Hearts, and Marth, Sheik, and Ike had set out to teach him. They had been playing cards for about twenty minutes when Roy sat down on the floor next to him and claimed to want in on the next game, which resulted in them abandoning Hearts to play the Great Dalmuti, where people could enter and leave as they wished. During that time, Quincy had sat down as well. When Samus and Zelda had joined in, they decided to play poker. After Marth and Sheik had both been called out numerous times for cheating, someone suggested that they start playing with candy as chips instead of pennies because Quincy had actually lost three dollars in change and Pit had lost at least eighty cents. The rate of cheating had actually increased rather than decreased when something nonsubstantial was at stake, and eventually _everybody_ was cheating instead of just Marth and Samus and there was much cussing and throwing of tootsie rolls and cards and just general mayhem all around, all in the name of entertainment. Their logic was essentially 'It's a Saturday morning; what else are we going to do?'

Link, who had been working out in the weight room with Snake while all this was going on, walked into the rec room curiously with a damp towel hanging around his shoulders. He took in the scene; eight teenagers lying sprawled on the carpet in a kumbaya-sort-of-way, all of them now shouting at each other as Marth produced another miracle hand and everybody was rightfully skeptical. He watched curiously for a few moments, and then shuffled around the outside of the circle to the TV.

"Scoot," he said to Quincy, who was sitting in front of the power button. The pokemon trainer looked up, and then obligingly moved to the side, strategically catching a glimpse of Zelda's hand as he did so. Unfortunately, before Link could push the button, Marth—who had just been shoved over by a belligerent Ike—tumbled over backwards and attempted to pop back onto his feet, but hadn't realized Link was behind him. There was a terribly awkward moment where Link instinctively caught the Altean by the shoulders, and then they both leapt away from each other, red-faced.

"Aw," Samus teased. "You're so cute."

"Shut up," Marth muttered as he sat back down. He took the hands that Pit dealt out, and then casually threw an elbow into the back of Link's knee. "He only wishes we were a couple."

Link 'tsk'ed and aimed a weak roundhouse kick at Marth's head as he flipped through the television channels. "I'm too good for you, pretty-boy."

Zelda and Samus exchanged a look, and then rolled their eyes in unison. Quincy and Pit laughed behind stifled hands, and the other three just rolled their eyes.

"Seriously though," Marth said thoughtfully as he threw a handful of tootsie rolls into the center of the circle as the next hand began. "I feel sort of bad for teaching the kid how to play poker. It feels a bit wrong."

Pit—who had long since grown used to being referred to simply as 'the kid' in sort of the same way Marth actually answered to 'pretty-boy'—smirked guiltily and matched the bet. Sheik folded, her red eyes on Ike's hand, which she could probably see from where she was sitting. Quincy quickly followed her example, and Ike remained in the game. Samus folded. Zelda matched the bet.

"I mean…" Marth said as Pit, who was dealing, flipped over the next card. "It's got to be some sort of sin to teach an angel how to gamble."

"Come on," Pit chided. "You took me on an illegal midnight joyride…"

"I_ knew_ that was you!" Ike burst out. Marth laughed and held up his hands innocently.

"…And you encouraged me to shout at adults," the angel continued. "And you almost got me to play a drinking game."

"I actually said that only people who can drink in their own world can drink," Marth said defensively. "It was Captain Idiot over there,"—he pointed at Roy—"who actually offered you alcohol."

"Whatever," Pit said, and flipped over the next card. Ike grinned triumphantly as he threw another handful of candy into the middle, and Zelda hastily folded.

"I still feel like I'm going to get struck by lightning or something."

No sooner had the words left Marth's mouth than the lights in the complex all suddenly blew out with a fantastic sound that was somewhere between a crash and a boom, and the room was plunged into darkness.

There was a long silence, and then Link sighed heavily and said "Nice one."

"I have mastered the power of lightning!" Marth gasped, his voice floating like a ghost's out of the pitch blackness. "You may call me Thor; god of thunder!"

"Hey Link?" Zelda called out in his general direction. "Out of curiosity, what were you trying to watch on the TV?"

"The Weather Channel," Link replied.

"And is that because it's storming outside?"

"Ooh yeah," Link said grimly. "Thunder and lightning and wind and flying cows…the whole shebang."

"Huh," Samus said thoughtfully. "You'd have thought we'd have heard it from in here."

"We _were_ making a lot of noise," Ike surmised. "And this rec room is pretty close to the center of the complex. It's pretty sheltered."

There was a loud slap, and then Sheik intoned darkly, "Whoever just poked my shoulder is going to walk away with a broken finger if he tries it again."

Nobody stepped up to take responsibility.

"Anybody have a flashlight or a screen or something?" Roy asked eventually, his voice pinpointing his location as somewhere along the north wall of the rec room. "It's freaking me out that I can't see anything."

There were various 'no's and 'sorry but…'s. "I have a matchbook?" Marth offered, fishing it out of his pocket and striking one of the phosphorus-tipped sticks inside. A bright orange light flared from the center of the room, illuminating his face and Quincy's—who happened to be standing next to him—for a moment in harsh contrast, making them appear as avenging angels. But then the flame got too close to the Altean's hand, and he waved it out.

"You _would _have a book of matches in your pocket. You're such a pyro," Link commented.

"I don't see you pulling any kind of light source out of _your_ pants," Marth retorted. "Now all we need is something flammable." He struck another match and turned in a circle, surveying the room. "Anybody see anything the staffers wouldn't mind me lighting on fire?"

A new light, this one lacking the flickering quality of a match or any sort of flame, appeared in the hallway, and a tall, slim figure stepped into the doorway. "Put it back in your pants, Highness," came a typically weary voice. "I don't trust you with fire."

"Good morning Dr. Stoelhart," Marth said in a patronizing tone, shaking the match until the flame went out. "Where'd you find the flashlight?"

Oliver shrugged. "I keep one in my office." He stepped further into the rec room and panned the light over the assembled teenagers, all of whom reflexively flung up their arms to shield their faces as the psychiatrist's light passed over them. "Right, nine." He pointed the beam of light down at the floor where it wouldn't sear anybody's eyes. "We're taking headcount," he explained. "Making sure that nobody was touching anything metallic when the power went out and got electrocuted or anything."

"Why did the power go out?" Pit asked innocently, flapping his wings once to launch himself over the sofa and land soundly about five feet in front of his idol.

Oliver ran a hand through his black hair and shrugged. "Techies are working on it right now, but we think it was probably lightning."

Link moved over to Marth's side and elbowed him. Samus smirked, and Marth took a very deliberate step away from the Hylian.

"Anyway," Stoelhart said, and pulled several thin, milky-white colored sticks from his back pocket. "All of you guys can have a glow stick. It beats burning the place down."

"We are so holding a mini-rave," Sheik said as she snapped the stick Oliver had given her and watched as it started to glow neon pink.

"May I suggest holding it in the kitchen?" Oliver suggested cheerfully. "The cooks are worried that the ice cream's going to melt before the power comes back on."

"Awesome!" Quincy cackled, snapping his glow stick into neon life as he raced Pit down the hallway.

"Doctor," Marth started. "Did you know that item nine on 'top ten things to do in a blackout' is 'open up a fire-hydrant and run through it until the cops come?'"

"No, I didn't," Oliver said, surprisingly sounding somewhat interested. "Not that I'm actually encouraging to follow this list, but what's item one?"

"Calling your congressman and ask him to fund sustainable energy research when the power comes back on," Marth said with a grin, and smacked his glow stick into his palm, igniting it into a stick of liquid blue fire.

"Nice," the psychiatrist smirked. "See you later. I've got to go help look for the others."

"Who's still unaccounted for?" Zelda asked, her voice concerned. The glow stick that she held clutched in her hand was, like Sheik's, pink.

"Uhm…" Oliver pulled out a piece of crumpled paper from his pocket and observed it. It was obviously some sort of checklist, and his green-gold eyes skimmed up and down it for a moment, registering names. "Now that I found you eight, the only ones left undiscovered are…Snake…"

"He's in the gym," Link supplied, tracing his own name in the air with green light. "Lifting weights."

"Oh, thank you," Oliver said, and pulled a pen out of his jacket to make a checkmark by the name. "So that only leaves…Ganondorf."

"Hah!" Link barked. "I hope he had his hand stuck in the toaster when the lightning struck. It'd serve him right!"

"Link," Stoelhart moaned. "Don't…"

"What?" Link laughed, pulling Zelda into a spinning hug simply because he felt like it. Marth and Ike both felt a tiny twinge of jealousy watching him, wishing that they were that up-front. "You act like a teensy tiny electric shock would actually kill the guy. He's been stabbed through the chest with a sword before and he's been fine!"

"But we don't know what happens if he gets shocked. You don't have electricity in Hyrule," Oliver pointed out crossly.

"We have _magic!_" Link argued, puffing his chest out. "And frankly, magic is completely pollutant free and completely renewable and therefore much more powerful and awesome. Where is your logic now?"

"Apparently elsewhere," Oliver said through his teeth. "Excuse me while I go find it." He turned on his heel and walked out of the room. "You seven are missing the ice-cream bonanza, you know," he threw over his shoulder as he left. "Just FYI."

"Methinks you ticked him off," Roy said out of the corner of his mouth.

"Eh," Link shrugged. "It's his own fault for expecting me to get along with Ganondork just because we're trying to kill each other on Earth now instead of Hyrule. Come on; let's go get some ice cream before Pit and Quincy eat it all."

Sheik and Roy, as it turned out, needed no further prompting and immediately took off down the hallway, their pink and blue glow sticks leaving light trails in the air behind them that made it look as if they were painting the walls with neon paint. Zelda ran after the two of them, creating pink waves in the air behind her. Link made green zig-zags; Samus went for a more acrobatic approach and ran with enough speed that she could start jumping off of the walls like a parkour expert with her blue glow stick over her head, splashing the ceiling with erratic blue swishes and spirals; and Marth and Ike couldn't come up with anything artistic and ended up just running through the neon chaos, finding themselves blinking often even though the bright patterns were visible even when their eyes were closed.

In this way they ran down the dark corridors, feeling like they were running through some crazy Alice-in-Wonderland dreamscape. The glow sticks made everything feel surreal and animated. It almost made one's brain start to hurt if one thought about it too much, or tried too hard to focus on the bright designs.

Marth whooped as their collective group rounded a corner, and increased his speed on an impulse to bound off after Samus, with only his momentum to keep him from falling as he leapt from wall to wall; tracing the patterns she flung up. Ike ran underneath him now, passing through what was becoming an elaborate dance of green and pink between Link and Zelda, and caught up with Roy and Sheik.

With absolutely no warning, a massive shadow suddenly filled up the hallway, and Ike and Roy—unfortunately—were the first two to run into it, only to discover that it wasn't really an insubstantial shadow at all but rather a large person. Both of them rebounded and managed to take Sheik down with them. Link and Zelda skidded to a stop behind the three, and Marth and Samus discovered that there really was no good way to stop what they were doing and ended up falling in an awkward heap behind the Hylains.

"Ow…" Marth complained as he sat back up and rubbed at a forming bump on the back of his head. "What the cheesy ramen was that?"

Sheik snatched up her glow stick from the ground and threw it at the dark object. It was snatched out of the air by a large hand and snapped in two. Neon pink liquid dripped onto the ground from the splintered plastic.

There was a long silence, punctuated only by a quiet rumble of thunder in the distance. The five teenagers who were sprawled across the floor started to stand up, but the figure held up a hand and stopped them.

"No, don't stand," it growled. "Lying on the floor looking like you have no idea what's going on suits you all well."

"Dr. Stoelhart was looking for you, Ganondorf," Marth said pleasantly. "He was concerned you got your humongous head stuck in a toaster and electrocuted yourself."

Ganondorf shook some of the florescent goo off of his hand, and it spattered against the wall, looking disturbingly like some sort of alien blood. "Just because some wannabe-Sherlock-Holmes shrink says something doesn't make what he said an order, despite what he has you thinking."

"Just remember who beat you in an invisi-brawl," Link said smarmily.

"He hit the net first, and _you_ got lucky," Ganondorf sighed. "And as for the _other_ hero…" The massive man glanced over at Marth, who was couched on the floor, glow stick held in front of his face like a glowing dagger. The demon thief chuckled quietly to himself. "Don't make me laugh." Marth's hands clenched. "You were pathetic." Ganondorf's amber eyes flashed maliciously in the light of the glow sticks as they skimmed over the four boys staring at him, completely ignoring Samus and Zelda. The only girl he acknowledged with a glare was—for whatever reason—Sheik, and she glared right back at him, unflinchingly.

"So are we just going to look at each other until the lights come back on, or what?" Link snapped. "Come on, Ganondork. What do you want?"

"I was just enjoying the darkness," Ganondorf answered. "It's not often that something goes wrong in this place. I enjoy it when it does."

"Well aren't you a bubbly ray of optimistic sunshine in the mornings?" Roy said sarcastically.

"At least I know what I am and don't try to hide it," the larger man retorted.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Roy said venomously, lurching forward as if to try and strike Ganondorf before Ike grabbed him by the lapels and jerked him to a stop.

"And the valiant knight stops his hot-headed friend from getting himself killed," the man smiled, and it was a quiet, dark, sly smile that made everybody wonder exactly what sort of thoughts were behind it. "This isn't the first time somebody else has had to save you from your own big mouth, is it?"

"What?" Roy spluttered, honest confusion written across his face. "When have I—? I could beat you!"

Sheik rolled her eyes and walked behind Ganondorf over to Zelda. "I need to borrow your glow stick."

As Zelda handed it over confusedly, Ganondorf continued. "I mean, honestly, Roy. Can you do nothing on your own, little hero? You've had the luxury of growing up in a father's protectiveness, haven't you?"

"What are you saying?" Roy challenged. "My father didn't make me weak!"

"Not at all," Ganondorf said idly, glancing around at the other teenagers as if he was daring them to say something, but they were all interested in the conversation despite themselves and nobody could quite bring himself to interrupt. "I'm just pointing out that your upbringing was quite a bit less…"

It was at this point that Sheik brought her arm back and flung a second pink glow stick at her nemesis' face. "Leave him alone. Don't you have anything better to do?"

Roy blinked and looked dazedly in Sheik's direction.

Ganondorf had somehow managed to catch this stick as well—proving that his reflexes were actually much better than his bulk led most people to believe—but he hadn't broken it. He looked from Roy to Sheik…and then to Ike…curiously, like he was observing something that actually interested him, as opposed to his usual jaded glare.

"In answer to your question," he said soothingly after a moment. "Of course I have better things to do. Dealing with confused teenagers who aren't sure where their loyalties lie is not very high on today's to-do list." He dropped the stick onto the floor, where it rolled around, throwing crazy moving shadows up against the hallway walls. "However," he said as he slammed into Marth's shoulder as he passed, making the slight teenager stumble backwards. "Our little encounter has left me with much to think about. And much that I can use to my advantage. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to irritate me, heroes."

And with that, he walked out of the small radius of colored light and was completely swallowed up by the darkness.

"Well, that was creepy," Ike said after a minute.

"No kidding," Marth agreed, rubbing his shoulder. "But we'll get back at him next time we brawl, alright? I'm thinking a three-on-one. What's everybody else thinking?"

"I want in," Roy said eagerly, his face red. "I want to punch the jerk."

The ice climbers suddenly walked around the corner, with Popo holding two glow sticks and Nana holding two overflowing bowls of ice cream.

"You know you're missing an awesome ice cream party in the kitchen?" Nana said in her soft voice, gesturing with her head down the hallway she had just walked out from.

Ike glanced at Link, and raised an eyebrow. "Race?"

"Please, you're so slow," Link said cockily. "I won't even have to try."

"Three-two-one-GO," Samus cried and sprinted past them, laughing to herself as they both stumbled into a startled jog after her. Marth and Zelda quickly caught up to them, and Roy dashed off just behind them, but his thoughts were elsewhere, pondering what Ganondorf had said to him.

_'Your upbringing was less…'_ what?

Sheik hesitated for a fraction of a second before taking off herself, looking at the gently rolling glow stick in the middle of the hallway. Where did her loyalties lie? If push came to shove, who would she let go of? But then Ike hollered at her to keep up, and she dismissed the thought as she ran after him and Roy.

**xXx**

While the teenagers were eating their way through several gallons of melting ice cream, Ganondorf walked silently through the deserted hallways, absorbed in dark thoughts to match his surroundings. As he walked, he heard an almost imperceptible 'blip,' and then all of the lights suddenly flickered back on, flooding the whole complex with light again.

To Ganondorf's surprise, Oliver Stoelhart was revealed to be standing halfway down the hallway with a flashlight tucked under his arm, flipping a page over on his clipboard and chewing on the cap of a pen. Ganondorf frowned; he hadn't sensed the psychiatrist's presence at all.

"Oh," Oliver looked up. "There you were. We were looking all over for you." He looked the large man over. "Are you alright? Link was worried you'd gotten yourself into some electrical trouble."

Ganondorf mentally filed away the fact that it was Link who had proposed the offensive toaster idea, not the psychiatrist, like the Altean princeling had claimed. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you for the concern."

Oliver smirked. "Honestly, if Link didn't have somebody to hate as much as he hates you, I don't know what he'd do with himself. I admire you for being able to put up with it."

The dark Hylian inclined his head. "I get my entertainment out of it as well. So many strings to pull, so many daggers to twist. I'm sure you, of all people, understand what I speak of."

"I do, actually," Oliver said. "More than you'd think." He smiled disarmingly. "So did you get some ice cream, or does the king of evil not partake in such mundane activities?"

Ganondorf resisted the urge to smack this perceptive young man upside the head. "No, he does not."

Oliver laughed. "Well then, I'll leave you. Unlike you, I enjoy participating in childish activities. That's why I love my job."

**xXx**

**Yeah, not much left to say after this one. XD Oliver is…Oliver. It's his job to relate to everybody. He's not evil (not really), although he is a bit of a control freak. He had a girlfriend once…**

**Anyway, I wanted to reemphasize Roy's immaturity (and I was boring and practically had Ganon come out and say it) because I felt like he was growing up too fast, and I wanted to get some Ganon/Link/everybody else rivalry going on, as well as pull up the Sheik/Ike/Roy conflict. And I couldn't resist making a jab at the Link/Marth paring, because I saw a hysterical picture this weekend of the two of them and it made me laugh so hard and I had to make fun of it. XD Don't hate me. **

**Speaking of art, **_**piplupfan580**_** said something about how awesome it'd be if there was some fanart for this story. I only do traditional art, so does anybody know how to get that onto the computer so I can show you guys? Or, alternately, if any of you guys can draw, draw something of the Game and send me a link. It'd be totally awesome. :D **

**So next up is a Cross Country race of some sort, followed by some Oliver-related-craziness where I might give you a bit of backstory on him with lots of general insanity mixed in and that'll eventually lead to whatever I end up doing with the DQ incident (GO VOTE ON MY POLL! THE CHOICE IS UP TO YOU GUYS!) . Then I'm going to do an arc, but it's not going to be dark at all (LE GASP!). It's going to be a bit heavier than the one-shots, but it's not going to be a murder mystery or anything ridiculous like that. XD I'm not going to say anything more at the moment. Feel free to guess: Your guesses always make me giggle. **

**Please review! :)**


	43. Chapter 43: Sprints

**I would have had this chapter up sooner, but I managed to catch bronchitis (why am I always sick?), so I spent about three days straight lying in bed watching movies and feeling generally miserable. But I feel much better today, so there you go. :)**

**Onto the thanks! Thanks to _Zantanna's-magical-wish_; Dang, I wish I had Nancy Drew on speed dial… ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; Pit's definitely in the top 5 runners, I'll say that. I'm glad I made you laugh. XD ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; I love Roy as a character. He's so cute! Anyway, thanks for the tips. They always help me improve. And no, I don't think Marth'd trust me. I'm too unpredictable. XD ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; Ah, Ganon. He's always up to something, ne? ~ Thanks to _piplupfan580_; Marth's definitely one of the top runners. XD I hope you enjoy! ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; Awesome! Progress! I actually based my interpretation of Nana off of yours, so thanks. :) ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Oliver keeps getting all of the good lines. XD It's part of his charm. ~ Thanks to _Chickyoudon'tknow_; Oooooh, shoot. You don't like Roy? You're not going to like this one. XD Ah well, lots of Marth awesomeness to make up for it, ne? ~ Thanks to _EggplantWitch_; The Dairy Queen Incident. I think it was first mentioned way back in Chapter 28. :) ~ Thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; I never said who poked Sheik. Could've been Ike. :D Anyway, never pause during a fight! Ollie's girlfriend is…kinda…dead, actually…*awkward silence* ~ Thanks to _Carcaptornicole_; Ah, whoops. Sorry about that. I fixed it in this chapter! *sweatdrops* ~ Thanks to _STKB_; there will be love involved, yes. ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; You know, I learned how to play poker at my church's youth group. Messed up or what? XD ~ Thanks to _RawkHawk2.0_; I had the chapter half-written, so it wasn't that fast. XD Thanks though! ~ Thanks to _ttme123_; Yep, you can probably expect about one update per week. ~ Thanks to _MusicGamer_; The guy's 27 and he's only ever had one girlfriend. That's semi-abnormal, don't you think? I'm glad you liked! ~ Thanks to _redhazeKJ_; NO I'M NOT DEAD. Thank you so much for sticking around! I always love your reviews. ~ Thanks to _Reality Is Fantasy_; Thank you so much! :D ~ Thanks to the _GameGuy12_; Thank you for being the only one to notice the sexual joke. XD You made my day. (Sorry for scarring you…) ~ Thanks to _Sogo_; Oh, there will be background. :3 ~ Thanks to _Skye-Moonknight7913_; That's actually sort of what I was thinking for the arc, actually. Thanks! ~ Thanks to _Angel_; It's totally not weird, I'm glad you like it. :D ~ Thanks to _MEAM-neko n.n_; OH my goodness that would be hysterical. *rofl* ~ Thanks to _Lost Triforce_; Um….I'll see what I can do for you. XD Thanks! ~ And thanks to _Diagon the Uber Lord of Lawlz_; Thank you so much. XD I actually base a lot of the jokes off of conversations me and my friends have. **

**Daaaaaaaaaaaaaang….I'm assuming you guys aren't daunted by the wall of thank-you text, but seriously. This is crazy how long it is. Anyway! Off to the story. This chapter's really long because I kept coming up with new ideas that I wanted to add into it. XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Brawl/Melee or any related character. Or Nintendo Power. I do own Oliver Stoelhart, Angel, and her buddy Liam. **

**I'm doing my final edit before posting and noticing that almost every scene containing Pit after the initial fight has actually happened to me during a Cross-Country race. XD BTW please forgive any awkward phrasing or typos. I'm sick, please cut me some slack. X_x**

**Please read, enjoy, and review! **

**Chapter 43: Sprints**

"So, remind me again why we agreed to this?" Link asked Roy, who was standing next to him, his hair fiery orange in the morning sunlight. Both of them were not dressed for the cool weather, but instead were wearing nylon shorts, graphic T-shirts, and running shoes. And they weren't the only ones either. Every single brawler had been wrangled out of bed earlier that morning and were now all standing in a straight line in the middle of a large open field.

"Because we have strong competitive spirits," Roy answered.

"Speaking of," Marth—who was standing a bit farther down in line—commented as he stretched his arms over his head. "You're both going down."

Samus passed him, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder and making sure that it smacked Marth in the face. "Sure, you'll beat Roy and Link, but_ I'll_ beat _you._"

Marth paused, momentarily unable to think of a good comeback, but then he smirked, his eyes trailing lazily after Samus as she walked down the line towards where Zelda and Sheik were already standing.

"I like your shorts!" he shouted after her.

Samus whirled around, her face flushing as she automatically tugged down the hem of her shorts, and—admittedly—there wasn't exactly all that much fabric there in the first place to tug. Over her short shorts she was wearing a black, close-fitting tank-top and a sweatband, the general look giving the impression that she had just joined a track team. In fact, so did everyone's clothes. This was mostly due to the fact that they would be, in a few minutes, running a race. There were a few exceptions, like Sonic, who always looked like he was about to run a race because he generally was, but for everyone else it was a mostly new experience.

Mostly thanks to Oliver Stoelhart and a group of reporters for Nintendo Power, the brawlers found themselves running a 5K race much earlier in the morning than most of them liked to be awake, the logic behind the awful timing being that it wouldn't be as sunny and warm, not that it was ever actually that warm or sunny where they lived at this time of year. The whole thing was being done as a charity, where tickets would be sold for bleachers set up all the way down the course, and all proceeds were being split fifty-fifty between the local cross-country team and various charities. The whole fundraiser was a complete sell-out, and the bleachers were already spilling over with spectators.

"So, a 5K is about three miles, right?" Ness asked, doing the conversion math in his head as he squatted down to tie his shoelace. Beside him, Lucas nodded.

"Aw, that's easy," Sheik rolled her eyes, and then elbowed Snake for his approval. "Right?"

Snake started, and then shrugged. He and Sheik could have been brother and sister, the way they were dressed: both of them were in black sweat pants with grey short sleeved T-shirts with black skiing caps crammed over their hair because it was still chilly outside. "It'll be alright," he said calmly. "Although the fact that brawling hasn't been banned makes things a bit more complicated."

Sheik smirked, tossing her bangs from her face. "That's what makes it fun," she enthused. "Don't you think?"

Zelda pulled a face, tugging the sleeves of her pink Nike sweatshirt over her hands. "If you say so. I'm not very fast."

"That doesn't matter," Sheik said, her competitive spirit refusing to be dampened. "All that matters is that you're faster than Ganondorf."

Marth overheard her last sentence and laughed. "I love the way you think." Down the line, Ganondorf growled and clenched his fists.

The Italian brothers were itching to go and were all bobbing in place at the starting line, which was a two-hundred meter straightaway on relatively flat ground before the trail cut into the forest. The teenagers were also all pumped to go and kept rough-housing and calling one another out in an attempt to keep everybody's adrenaline levels high. The heavier ones, such as Ganondorf and DeeDee, were mentally preparing themselves for the loss they knew they were about to take, and were planning dastardly plots to take as many of their enemies down with them as possible. Sonic rolled his eyes and glared up at the blue-grey sky, wondering why he had to participate in such a mundane exercise when it was obvious that he'd win. Everybody else fidgeted anxiously behind the spray-painted line in the grass, trying to keep their nerves under control as they kept telling themselves that it was just a race—that it didn't count for anything.

Except, it did count for something. That was how Brawl worked.

Angel and her blonde American friend Liam walked down the line, Angel making comments into her megaphone for the nearby audience to hear. Liam was laughing at her jokes and generally being an all-around nice guy as he followed her down the dewy grass. When they reached the end, they nearly ran into Oliver Stoelhart, who was standing in khakis and a charcoal turtleneck holding a race-gun in his hand.

"Two minutes until race time," he announced. The crowd quieted as the TV screens that would display the brawlers position on the track crackled to life.

"One minute."

Now even the brawlers hushed as Oliver lifted the gun into the air with an unusually practiced hand, like he had done it before.

"Thirty seconds. Remember," the psychiatrist continued. "Brawling is allowed, but you are not to endanger the spectators. No deliberate bloodshed or maiming because the people who own these fields really don't want to have to clean them up. To give you a reference, a good cross country runner can do a course like this in less than twenty minutes. See what you make of it. Ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven, six, five—good luck."

The gun roared into the air, and the brawlers exploded en masse from the starting line. Angel immediately started shouting the lead runners into her megaphone, and Oliver watched the sprinting mass run across the grassy field with a look of mild interest on his face.

Within the clump, Ganondorf suddenly reached out and grabbed the back of Roy's blue T-shirt. The red-haired teenager gagged and lurched backwards, reflexively flinging his arms out to the sides.

"Roy!" several of the teenagers shouted, and Link went as far as to fling himself onto Ganondorf's back, forcing the huge man to let go of Roy's shirt. Gasping, Roy doubled over and collapsed onto the grass, tripping up Ike and Falco, who were both unfortunate enough to be running behind him. All three went down, Falco dragging Wolf down by accident, although Wolf didn't know it. Link was attempting and failing to put Ganondorf in some sort of restraining hold, Wolf was shouting obscenities at Falco and getting ready to start throwing punches, Ike was staggering to his feet and roaring at an oxygen-deprived Roy to get back up, and everybody else was tripping or stumbling their way around the mayhem.

Oliver was still watching with that same jaded expression as a very confused Angel tried to work out who was actually in first place. "Huh," he said to himself. "They made it one-hundred meters. I didn't think they'd make fifty."

Four figures suddenly burst from the chaos, much to the enthrallment of the crowd. Angel was quick to identify them as Sonic, a flash of blue that was already halfway through the course; Marth, tumbling underneath a snatching hand and popping back to his feet, his eyes sparking with determination; right behind him came Sheik, and then Pit burst out of the fray and took to the air, flapping his wings furiously to keep up.

As soon as people realized that there were actually brawlers running the race, there was a mad shuffle for fifth place as everybody took off again. Samus shoved her way to the front of the group, but the Star Fox group was right behind her, and Quincy was gaining on the four of them. Hot on his heels were Lucario and the Mario brothers. None of them were really thinking about the fact that they still had three miles to go, they were simply fighting for position and were willing to sprint to keep ahead of the others. Roy had even clambered back to his feet at this point, although the early takedown had cost him a lot of ground. He was near the back of the group and getting jostled around by the heavyweights.

Samus ran down a short decline, stumbled, regained her footing, and dashed into the wooded area, just catching a glimpse of Marth's back before he rounded a corner and was lost to her again. The fans in their bleachers were reduced to an unfocused blur at either side of her; just distractions that were to be ignored. She was determined to catch up to the leaders. She could hear pounding footsteps behind her, but she didn't concentrate on those either. The important thing was remaining constant. If she stayed constant, then surely she could catch up to the leaders, who were sprinting at their hardest. Nobody could keep up a dead sprint for three miles.

**xXx**

"I could keep this up all day!" Marth barked, edging in front of Sheik so that she couldn't pass him.

"You're a jerk," she growled, and tried to pass him on the other side, only to have him jink over to block her once again. "I'll get around you eventually. You've got to slow down sometime."

"Nu-uh," he laughed, and then—as if to prove his point—he actually managed to increase his speed, leaping over tree roots and flying around another corner, careening past cheering fans. Pit, with a hoarse scream of disbelief, forced himself to keep up, whizzing through the low canopy of tree leaves, knowing that he would never have stood a chance of keeping up had he been running on the ground. The two boys raced like that, Pit gasping for breath, Marth's laughter echoing through the trees.

Sheik gritted her teeth and kept up as best as she could, and she managed for a while, but by the time the three of them burst out of the forest and into a second stretch of rolling grassland, Marth and Pit were a good two hundred meters ahead of her. To her credit, she was going even faster than she had been when the race started. They were simply going faster.

**xXx**

Angel continued to speak into her microphone, watching the race from various live camera feeds set up throughout the course that were broadcasting to Oliver's laptop, which he was now holding at an angle so she could see it. The two of them were sitting in the back of a golf-cart that another Brawl staffer was driving, and Liam was sitting in the front so that Angel could watch the race. Her microphone was directly linked to speakers, which would dub her voice over the live film feed on the screens that matched Oliver's computer that were placed here and there across the course for the spectators. The golf-cart was taking a shortcut across the winding course, cutting the three-point-one miles down to only about a half-mile, but they still doubted they were going to reach the finish line before Sonic did.

"And we have a winner!" Angel said, leaping out of the moving cart with a jump that would have made Pit—the master of flying leaps—proud. The teenage girl ran the last few feet over to where Sonic was guzzling the contents of a water bottle and grabbed his hand to hold in the air for the cameras. "Sonic the Hedgehog! How do you feel about winning the first ever Nintendo-Sponsored Brawl Race?"

Sonic swallowed his mouthful of water and managed a dry smile. "It was just another race," was all he said before walking back over the finish line to wait for everybody else to arrive. Sonic, contrary to how he was portrayed in most of his media, was fairly humble, and was also somewhat solitary. Oliver had figured out the reasons for all of this, but the simplest and most obvious reason whittled down to the fact that it's sort of hard to make friends when you're constantly leaving them in the dust. Not to mention that he, like Snake, faced the problem of being from a third-party.

Nonetheless, he was a pleasant creature. The sort who would wait for everybody to cross the finish line, congratulating each one as they passed. Oliver sort of wished that he was more outgoing. But that was just his personality; there wasn't much he could do about it.

Having grown bored with analyzing the hedgehog, the psychiatrist glanced over at Liam and Angel. Angel was making her commentary into the microphone, watching as positions changed coming up to the halfway point, and then glanced over at the American boy named Liam. The psychiatrist's trained eyes immediately picked up on the way he was positioned, the way his eyes seemed to focus on everything but the girl standing next to him. And the way Liam's eyes narrowed when he saw a glimpse of the angel boy, Pit, keeping pace with the second place—Marth—on the screen.

Oliver smirked and looked down at his laptop, muttering to himself, "_Tot chordas ad detrahendum…_"

**xXx**

As it turned out, the halfway point was marked by a half-mile of straight uphill. Marth and Pit, the two leaders now that Sonic was finished, couldn't help but skid (or in Pit's case, swoop) to an awed stop in front of the massive lump in the land.

"Jiminy Christmas, we have to run_ up_ that thing?" Marth panted, doubling over to ease the stitch in his side. "It's _massive._"

Pit shot a sideways look at Marth, and then at the hill, then back to Marth, and then over his shoulder, where a small crowd of the faster brawlers were starting to catch up. "Giving up second place so easily?" he asked breathlessly, and launched himself into the air again, zooming off up the hill.

Marth turned, and saw Sheik and Samus leading the pack of new-comers. "Heck no," he hissed, and forced his aching muscles back into action. Samus saw him start running again and shouted something at him that was lost in the distance between him.

Even though he hadn't heard what she said, and even though he knew he didn't have the oxygen to spare, he couldn't resist shouting back. "Just try and catch me!"

**xXx**

"We'll catch them," Sheik gasped. "We'll catch up."

Samus nodded curtly, watching Marth's ridiculously fast progress up the hill. "Yes," she said, and somehow found the resolve to go even faster. Sheik refused to be left behind twice and kept up, and the group behind them followed.

**xXx**

Roy was still attempting to make up for lost ground in the beginning of the race. He had initially entertained naïve hopes that maybe he'd be able to run with Sheik, and maybe something would happen…But of course that was obviously impossible now. Sheik had darted out from the initial brawl like a bullet from a gun, right on Marth's tail, while he had lain choking on the grass, and had to be helped up by Ike, of all people. The one guy who he wished would just disappear, and he ended up having to lean on him for help.

It wasn't that Roy disliked Ike, or was even particularly annoyed that Ike had replaced him on the battle field. He just couldn't shake the thought that if Ike were gone, then maybe, maybe things would go back to normal.

His anger gave him the energy needed for a speed burst, and Roy zipped past Wario and Lucas. Ike, he knew, was several runners behind him, but had been passing again for the last hundred meters or so. Roy increased his speed again even as the giant hill loomed in front of him. He would beat Ike. Even if he had at least consciously if not subconsciously resigned himself to losing to Ike in the whole Sheik thing, he wasn't going to lose this little race. He was faster than Ike. Heck, he was better than Ike. And he would prove it.

**xXx**

"Fly angel _fly!_" Marth bellowed as he and Pit spun out from a series of sharp turns into the final section of field. The crowd stood up to cheer like they had when Sonic blasted through, but the two teenagers were blocking out the distractions.

"_Faster!_" Pit shouted, urging himself on as much as he was the Altean. He spun through the air and then snapped his wings back, forcing his body through the air. For a moment, Marth was left behind, but then the effect wore off, and they were neck to neck again.

They were four hundred meters from the end, Marth finally gasping for breath, Pit not even breathing as he concentrated wholly on the final sprint.

Samus and Sheik suddenly burst out of the foliage, and were followed by the majority of the brawlers right on their heels. There wasn't any time for words or celebration, they both just ran, and everybody followed. Suddenly it was unclear if Marth and Pit were going to claim second and third place after all, because the mob was right behind them and gaining…

But then they were both through, Marth tumbling to the ground the minute he was past the finish line, Pit alighting nimbly—when compared to Marth's less-than-spectacular finish—on the grass and immediately doubling over, desperately trying to replenish his oxygen supply.

Sonic congratulated them quickly, and then cheered good naturedly for Sheik and Samus as they dashed through, and then for Falco, and Wolf, and by the time Quincy stumbled through Sonic was just clapping steadily and didn't see himself stopping for a bit.

"Agh…" Marth groaned as he rolled over onto his back to see Oliver Stoelhart looking down at him curiously. "What do you want?"

Oliver held a stopwatch over Marth's face. "Your time," he said. "Was twenty-five minutes and thirty-eight seconds. Well done."

"What was Sonic's?" Marth asked breathlessly.

"Seven minutes and nine seconds."

Marth 'tsk'ed unhappily and glared up at the sky until Oliver shrugged and left. It was at this point that Samus came over and kicked him in the hip.

"What the heck?" he cried, curling up into the fetal position to ward off further attacks.

"I…!" Samus raged, prodding Marth's shoulder with her shoe. "…_Totally_ would've beaten you if I hadn't gotten stuck in the fight!"

"And how is that _my _fault?" he shouted back, shoving her foot off of him as he climbed to his feet.

"It wasn't, but I need somebody to kick," Samus admitted, tossing a lank wisp of blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Go kick Ganondork. He's the one who caused the fight in the first place."

"He's not here yet and I need somebody to kick now." She punctuated the word 'now' with another light jab at Marth's knee, which he stepped out of the way of.

"Well wait until he gets here!" he yelped, dancing backwards as she chased him down, occasionally throwing a punch or a kick at him. "Crazy woman!" he finally bellowed and ran into the woods to climb a tree.

Quincy, who was leaning exhaustedly up against an equally-exhausted Pit's shoulder, smirked watching them. "That's not very sportsmanlike," he quipped.

Pit nodded absently, not paying attention because he was focused on Angel, who was standing with Sonic at the finish line, shouting out the names of brawlers as they trickled through.

**xXx**

Roy was just entering the final stretch when chaos broke out again behind him. The slower runners and the ones who had gotten caught up the longest in the initial brawl were the only ones left after him, but Ike was among them and that was enough for Roy. Link was back there too, and Roy felt a little bad about that, but not enough to throw the race.

At first he didn't notice the violence behind him, but it was sort of hard not to notice when Link suddenly went flying over his head and the entire crowd 'boo'ed in unison. Roy stopped and whirled around despite himself to see Ike tackle Bowser, making the giant creature release Lucas, who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lucas dropped to the grass and sprinted off past Roy, along with Wario. Bowser simply rolled backwards, crushing Ike underneath him.

There was a pause where Roy debated what he should do. But it was a short pause. "Oi!" he bellowed and turned on his heel to run towards the fight—away from the finish—only to have Ganondorf leap in front of him.

"Back for more, little hero?" the large man growled.

Roy ducked under a sweeping arm, wishing he had learned more about hand-to-hand combat. He was really helpless without a weapon of some sort. Just as he was about to try some sort of kick, he felt a heavy weight on his shoulders and stumbled backwards, thrown over as Link used the red-headed boy as a springboard to launch himself right at Ganondorf's head. The Hylain's heel connected solidly with the large man's nose, and the entire crowd 'ahh'ed in unison. Link flipped backwards, landing on his feet, and turned to look at Roy, who was sprawled out in the grass.

"Go!" Link shouted, and then dodged a wide punch thrown out by a peeved Ganondorf and spun around, landing another powerful kick in the man's stomach. "Go, Roy!"

"No!" Roy yelled back, sick and tired of being told to run. Sick and tired of having to be protected, or stood up for, or treated as a kid just because he was younger and smaller than his friends. He was tired of people assuming that he was weak, just because he had a father. But most of all, he was sick of being picked last. He was sick of missing out on the action.

But he ran anyway, because he was no good in this situation. However, he still didn't run towards the finish. Instead he abandoned the trail and ran for the woods.

Ike coughed weakly and sat up gingerly, only to have Bowser shove him back down. He rolled onto his feet a good distance away, weighing his options. Breathing hurt; whether that was because he was injured or just because he had gotten the wind knocked out of him, he didn't know. He was debating what to do next when a red blur suddenly burst out of the woods behind him screaming like a banshee and brandishing a heavy-looking stick.

Before Ike had a chance to blink, the younger boy had dashed forward and flipped himself into the air, expertly smashing the stick across Bowser's head while he was in the air. Bowser dropped, but the boy was already gone; rushing across the grass to slash the stick across Ganondorf's knee. Ganondorf shouted wordlessly and dropped Link from a headlock down onto the ground. Link leapt back up, blood leaking out form a gash on his forehead.

"Link!" Roy—it was obviously him—shouted as he used the stick like a bo to deflect one of Ganondorf's kicks. "Remember the spring team attack from Melee?"

"Yeah!" Link confirmed, too caught up in the excitement of the fight to scold Roy for coming back, and entwined his fingers into a stirrup. "Go!"

Roy dropped the stick and ran straight at Link without hesitation, despite the fact that neither of them had performed the move for over a year. He stepped into the improved step, and Link flung him high up into the air. Ganondorf made a snatch for Roy's tennis shoe, but missed by inches, and by then it was too late. Roy was already dropping out of the sky, head-first, grabbing huge handfuls of Ganondorf's shirt and using his momentum to flip the Gerudo over his shoulders as he landed.

Ganondorf slammed into the ground with a bone-jarring crash and immediately tried to get to his feet, only to have two feet restrain him.

Ike leaned a little harder on the man's chest and coughed, finally getting his wind back. "I've never seen you two move like that," he commented.

"Yeah, well…Marth, Roy, and I were easily bored back in Melee. The only thing to do there was to make up new move combos. We used to know loads," Link said breathlessly, and caught a glimpse of the knocked out Bowser. "What'd you do to him?"

"Hit him with a tree branch," Roy explained chirpily as he dusted himself off. He looked down at Ganondorf and grinned. "Yeah, big man," he said quietly. "I'll always be back for more." He looked up proudly at Link and Ike. "Come on, we need to finish the race, don't we?"

Link ruffled Roy's hair fondly. "Yeah, I'm going to beat you." And with that, he took off, and Roy and Ike dashed after him, trying to get some distance before Ganondorf could get up.

"Hey, thanks," Ike said as the two of them crossed the finish line milliseconds after Link did.

"For what?" Roy asked, grinning over at Sheik, who had finished long ago and who had watched the whole fight on the screens. She gave him a thumbs-up, and then waved at Ike, who waved back.

"Thanks for coming back," Ike explained after he stopped waving. "I thought you'd keep running."

"I did too," Roy said thoughtfully, smirking as Ganondorf finally made it across the finish, and was promptly roundhouse-kicked by Samus.

**xXx**

Several days later, Oliver Stoelhart walked into the rec room, where Roy, Marth, and Ike were engaged in a highly competitive game of Mario Kart.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I thought you'd like to see this," the psychiatrist said, dropping a magazine into Roy's lap. Roy picked it up and laughed out loud when he saw the cover. It was a copy of Nintendo Power, and a shot of him whacking Bowser over the head with the tree branch had been enlarged and printed across at least two thirds of the page, accompanied by the caption: "Roy's Our Boy Again." The other third was taken up by smaller pictures of the first five runners: Sonic, Marth, Pit, Shiek, and Samus.

"Thanks," Roy said enthusiastically.

"Nice job," was all Oliver said before he left the room. "I'm glad you all had fun."

**xXx**

**Y'know there was originally a line in the beginning where Oliver said that they couldn't use weapons, but I had to take it out when Roy started wanting to beat people up with trees. XD**

**Oliver's Latin line translates (if I did it correctly) to "So many strings to pull." And I'm really sorry to anybody who feels like I butchered Sonic's character. In a way, I did, but I always was sort of annoyed with the cocky, "You're-too-slow" Sonic of the TV series (the only Sonic thing I've seen, unfortunately). I wrote him like I thought he'd be in real life, so I'm sorry if you don't like it. At least he won, right? **

**People actually do talk to each other a lot during cross-country races, believe it or not. I had an excellent conversation with somebody once that went something like this: "Holy cow! We just ran a seven minute mile!" "Why can't I ever run that fast in gym class?" "I know, right?" "You think you can keep it up for the rest of the race?" "You betcha. Can you?" "Heck, I can go faster." "No way." "Yes way. Eat my dust. And watch out for this next part, I tripped over a tree-root here last year." **

**Roy's an interesting character from the perspective that he's the most unsteady of all of my characters. He's not quite sure what he thinks, and his opinions are likely to change. XD It might be frustrating as a reader, but it's really fun as an author, so let me have a little fun with it, 'kay?**

**This is the last opportunity you'll have to vote on my PROFILE POLL for the DAIRY QUEEN INCIDENT so GO DO THAT NOW!**

**Next chapter will have something to do with Google/Deviantart/and just generally the internet. XD Hilarity will ensue when one of the boys looks himself up. :3 **

**Please review! Thank you so much for being such awesome reviewers!**


	44. Chapter 44: The Internet

***0* 600 REVIEWS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! *spazzes with Hershel the plot bunny***

**Thanks to _HyperJuggernaut_; I think they're much more likely to quote a movie than act one out. XD ~ Thanks _to STKB_; I wish this was based off of real life, but it's not really. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; I love Roy. He's too adorable. ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; XD Bronchitis is inflammation of the lung passages. Basically, every time I laugh, I cough. Curse you and your amusing reviews (jk, jk—it's worth the pain). ~ Thanks to _MusicGamer_; Oh, awesome! I'm glad you like Sonic. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIlI_; I think you need to be a Spanish football commentator. Random comment is random. XD ~ Thanks to _The One and Only Geek_; Indeed, my friend. ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Thanks so much. :D I'm glad you liked how Sonic turned out. ~ Thanks to _Flo_; Oh, yeah, you're right. Zelda and Sheik haven't been around much, have they? I'll fix that. XD ~ Thanks to _Zatanna's-magical-wish_; Woot. DQ incident! XD ~ Thanks to _The Element Commander_; Thank you so much! Sonic would've done it faster, but he got stuck in the initial fight. XD ~ Thanks to _piplupfan580_; It involves Marth and Ike…and sort of Roy. XD ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; HAH. The pun made my day. ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; Oh, you ran track? Isn't it crazy? XD ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; I have a ways to go before I pass Soundwave, don't I? Anyway, thanks for the advice. I'll strive to do better. :) ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg96_; He is perpetually annoyed, isn't he? LOL. ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Link's been paired with GANONDORF? EW. That's just….daaah! *goes off to bleach my brain* ~ Thanks to _Jenakin Ramsobi_; Oh yes, there needs to be a Falcon Punch chapter. :3 ~ Thanks to _angel_; You're very welcome. :) I'm glad you like it. ~ Thanks to _redhazeKJ_; YES. Finally we have a Roy fan! I think you're the first one. XD ~ Thanks to _Lost Triforce_; Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked Sonic. ~ Thanks to _Sogo_; XD Roy is Roy, isn't he? He's so cute! BTW I finally beat the Layton game. ~ Thanks to _PockyGlameow_; I'm glad you're back. :) Gym is a terrible class, isn't it? ~ And thanks to _TehGameBoy_, formerly known as GameGuy12; WoOt. Wait—they're making smash for the 3DS? Seriously? O0o You'd better not be yanking my chain. Seriously? **

**WOOT! I say this every other chapter, but you guys are amazing. :) Hope you're having a good weekend. **

**Oh my goodness, I stuffed this chapter with all sorts of stuff. X_x Lengthy disclaimer today: I don't own Vocaloid, google, Bleach (like the anime/manga), or any of the Brawl/Melee related characters. For anybody who doesn't know, Vocaloid is a Japanese computer program that gives you a voice to make songs with that I got addicted to when I was sick. XD I've only ever seen three or four episodes of Bleach, but it's entertaining. And the Quincy pun's been begging to be made for a while now. XD Anyway, I hope it all makes sense and is at least somewhat entertaining. **

**I wanted to write a less-insane chapter than the plot-bunny craziness I've been churning out lately. It's not quite up to my usual level of ridiculousness, but that was intentional. I hope it's okay nonetheless. **

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Chapter 44: The Internet**

Pit and Quincy walked out of the locker room together, Pit with a damp towel draped over his shoulder, Quincy hardly sweaty at all for obvious reasons. They had just won an amazing tag-team match against Lucas and Ness, and the crowd had loved it all.

Both of them were talking about music and were on the verge of a friendly argument over whether pop or rock was a better genre. They were so engaged that they almost stumbled over Marth, who was sprawled out in the hallway with a laptop computer propped in his lap.

"I mean, rock's just—Agh!" Pit yelped as he tripped on the cord of Marth's headphones, ripping them out of the jack on the side of the computer. Tinny, girlish music that didn't seem quite up to Marth's usual high-quality standard suddenly started to blip through the hallway, and Marth quickly stuck the headphones back in.

"What sort of ear pollution is _that?_" Quincy asked, squatting down next to the peeved prince to try and pull out the headphones again.

"Leave me alone," Marth huffed, shutting down a youtube window. "What I listen to is my business."

"Dude, that was the girliest music I've ever heard," Quincy said in a no-nonsense tone of voice, still wrestling to get his hand close enough to the audio jack to yank on the cord. "If you don't want me to start thinking that maybe you're a girl after all—"

"We share a locker room!" Marth burst out, prying the pokemon trainer's hands away from the computer and kicking him away with a socked foot. "I. Am. A. Boy."

"And you're listening to…Vocaloid?" Pit asked disbelievingly, maximizing the window that Marth had shot down a minute ago. "…What's Vocaloid?"

"It's a computer program," Marth explained unhappily, completely closing the internet browser before it could be accidentally brought up again. "It's all Japanese. You wouldn't understand the lyrics. Most songs are fan-made. Now leave me alone."

"Why're you out in the hallway by yourself?" Pit asked curiously, giving up at the computer.

Quincy—who wasn't quite as angelic—wasn't about to let the subject drop. "Oh, I've heard about Vocaloid. Hatsune Miku, right?"

Marth shot him a sideways look. "Look, before you laugh, I'd just like to say that Roy listens to it too."

"You Japanese boys got to stick together," Quincy smirked and whacked Marth's shoulder. "Come on, let us listen to it."

"No."

"Come on!" Quincy continued. "At least tell us why you're all alone in the hallway listening to your girly music."

Marth, with a huge, resigned sigh, clicked on the web browser and started sifting through the history, pulling up several windows at once to show. "Okay, so I applied for a laptop from the Nintys, and it got here today, and I wanted to do some research on something but Ike was blasting his symphonies through the walls and it was creating a really obnoxious mix with Link's Big Time Rush, so I came out here to get away from all the noise…"

"And listen to your girly techno?"

"It's not girly. It's Japanese."

"Same thing."

Marth whacked the pokemon trainer upside the head. "For the third time, it's not girly," he insisted. "It's catchy."

"If you say so," Quincy said dismissively.

"And the lyrics are interesting if you actually understand them," Marth continued relentlessly. "Which you wouldn't because you don't understand Japanese."

"But it's a girl robot singing?" Quincy concluded. "Right?"

"I want to hear your girl robot!" Pit said suddenly.

Marth snapped his laptop shut, stood up, and walked down the hallway. "Look it up yourself, idiot. You two are annoying. I'm going to find a broom closet where I can google in peace."

"Aw, c'mon!" Pit cried. "We'll stop being annoying! Tell us what you were doing! Tell us or we'll assume it's something dirty!"

"As if. I was googling our resident psychiatrist," Marth said, slipping his headphones back on and cracking the laptop open just enough that he could reopen his Vocaloid youtube video.

"Dr. Stoelhart? Why were you googling him?" Pit asked, obviously confused as he and Quincy stalked Marth down the corridor.

"If I tell you, will you leave me alone?" the older teenager asked patronizingly.

"Yes!" the two younger boys chorused.

Marth pushed the sleeves up on his polo shirt and opened the laptop fully to show them the window he had open. Very laboriously, considering that he was holding the laptop away from him, he typed in the words 'Dr. Oliver V. Stoelhart' and tapped the enter key. 'No results' flashed up on the screen.

"So he's not famous," Pit said. "Big deal. I mean, it's not like everybody can look themselves up on the internet, right? What's wrong with Dr. Stoelhart?"

Marth raised an eyebrow, and then typed in 'Brawl USA psychiatrist.' Immediately a list of articles flooded the screen, the majority of them explaining the layout of the newly constructed stadium back when it was still new. Every here and there the words 'psychiatrist' and 'Brawl' were bolded in the articles. "Do you see the problem?" Marth asked.

Pit shook his head, but Quincy nodded. "They never mention his name. They never say what his name is."

"Exactly," Marth grinned, pleased that the boy had gotten it.

"But that's…that's not abnormal, is it?" Pit blurted. "I mean, there are so many staffers here, they can't mention everybody, right?"

Marth grinned crookedly. "That's what I thought at first. So I tried some other names." He typed in 'Angel Fischer Brawl' and hit enter. Dozens of results, and even a few pictures of the brown-haired girl, flashed up on the screen. He typed in 'Nya Brawl staff' and a significantly less amount of articles came up, but her name was present in all of them. 'Masako broadcasting brawl.' Her name came up as well. 'Yumiko Brawl staff.'

"I can't help but notice that all of the people you're googling happen to be girls," Ike said, sticking his spikey head over Marth's shoulder. "I thought you had the hots for Samus."

Marth—to his credit—barely jumped. He quickly snapped the computer shut again and tucked it underneath his arm. "I was making a point about something. How can I help you?"

"I feel somewhat concerned that the Ninty's have armed you with a computer," Ike continued as if Marth hadn't spoken. "Imagine the damage you could do on the internet." He yanked off the Altean's headphones and held them up to his ear before Marth could snatch them back. He made a face. "Seriously?"

"Oh come _on!_" Marth griped and smacked the headphones out of Ike's hand, somehow managing to catch them before they hit the floor. "I thought you were in your room," he accused.

Ike held up a book and grinned. "Finished. I was on my way over to get the next one in the series when I heard a commotion, and I thought to myself, 'Now who could that possibly be?'"

"What book?" Marth asked, plucking the novel from Ike's hands.

"Trade you," Ike acquiesced, snatching the laptop while Marth leaned up against the wall, reading the back cover of the paperback. Pit and Quincy split up, Pit hovering over Ike's shoulder to watch him scroll through Marth's internet history, the pokemon trainer ducking his head and trying to see around Marth's hand to read the book title.

"…Can I borrow this?" Marth asked after a minute of silence, turning the book over to admire the cover. "It looks like something I'd like."

"It's good," Ike nodded. "Sure you can." His eyes were still skimming through the many searches Marth had run over the course of the morning. "Aw, dude, you tried googling yourself? Vain much?"

"Don't click on that," Marth said quickly, already several pages into the first chapter. "I was bored. I swear Ike, get out of my history or I'll kill you."

Ike, of course, couldn't pass up something like that, and clicked on the little icon that read 'Marth-google search.' The first few pages of results weren't that abnormal—mostly just a bunch of fan-taken photographs of brawls and publicity things. It wasn't until the third page of results that the laughter started.

By the eight page, Ike on his back laughing hysterically at a picture of Marth in a skirt, Pit and Quincy were staring at the Marth/Ike picture above the skirt one with their mouths open, and Marth was leaning up against the wall pretending that he didn't care, his face bright red.

"Oh. My. Gosh!" Ike wheezed, now flipping through various pages of a Marth-abusing web-comic. "Pure gold!"

"That's it," Marth snapped and stomped over to the computer, typed in 'Ike,' and slammed the enter key.

Ike glanced at the screen, made a retching sound, and typed in 'marth and zelda' before Pit had a chance to see the perverted drawing.

"Great, now Link's going to kill me when he sees that," Marth muttered. "…Just for kicks…" He tapped out 'Roy' and poked the enter key.

"Aw, that's not fair," Ike pouted, flicking the mouse pad occasionally to scroll. "How come Roy's are completely norma—oh, wait…" He grinned, and Marth moaned and typed in 'brawl,' figuring that'd be somewhat safe. It was, and Ike decided that was boring, so he deleted the search and typed in 'Marth' again and found a gender-swap picture that he had noticed earlier.

"_IKE!_" Marth threw the book at Ike's head and shut down the entire web browser.

Pit and Quincy had resumed their argument about music while the older boys were crowding the computer screen, but they both stopped and looked back over as a fight broke out behind them.

"You know you're not helping things if you're tackling each other all the time," Pit said wisely, leaping out of the way as the two fire emblem boys went tumbling down the hallway, shouting and grabbing at one another's shirts.

Quincy laughed as he pressed himself up against the wall to avoid the tussle. "I'm glad I don't have these problems."

Marth and Ike froze, Marth pinned between the floor and Ike's knee. He tilted his head back and looked at Quincy upside-down. "You want to bet?"

Pit grinned evilly and landed on the floor next to the laptop computer, which had been accidentally kicked by Ike and had skittered into one of the walls. After taking a minute to figure out where the internet icon was, he pulled up google again and typed in 'pokemon red.'

"Hah," he said. "There you go." He turned the computer around to show Quincy the picture of the first Pokemon protagonist and his rival. "You have yaoi problems too."

"Rule 34," Marth quipped from the floor.

"Ah," Quincy said quietly. "But that's not me. That's Red. I'm Quincy. Type in 'Pokemon Quincy.'"

Pit frowned. "Nothing."

Quincy beamed and pointed at an epic picture of Uryu Ishida from the Bleach anime that had popped up as the second result. "_That,_ my friend, is a Quincy." He turned to smile smugly at Marth. "So much for your rule 34."

Marth muttered something unrepeatable and started trying to wriggle out from Ike's knee.

Pit glanced at the two of them and giggled. "Oh, I think rule 34's still working, Quince."

Quincy burst out laughing, and then ducked as Marth threw Ike's book at him and darted down the hallway. Pit leapt up into the air and whirled around as well, the two of them streaking off to make mischief elsewhere.

Ike stood up and looked like he wanted to chase after them, but realized that there was little chance he'd catch up. With a sigh, he turned back to Marth, who had crawled over to the laptop computer again and was in the process of clearing the history.

"There," he said triumphantly after a minute. "It never happened." He stood up and brushed off his shirt, tucking the book and the laptop underneath his arm again. "Nobody needs to know that we googled ourselves."

"Or that you listen to girly techno. Or that there's a whole fandom of X-rated pictures of you and Zelda out on the internet."

"Or that there's a whole fandom of X-rated pictures of you and an angel," Marth retorted unhappily.

Ike winced. "That's just wrong. I blame crazy fangirls."

"When in doubt, blame the crazy fangirls."

"Hear hear."

**xXx**

Away in his office, Oliver Stoelhart sighed and watched as the history of Marth's laptop computer disappeared off of his screen. The little alert window had popped up underneath an email the psychiatrist had been composing when Marth had first tried to type in the keywords 'Oliver Stoelhart' about an hour ago.

He had sat there watching the various internet searches blossom in the alert box for a while, trying to see if there was a pattern to the staff members that Marth was searching for. If it was just a random thing, then that was alright, but if it was directed at someone specific…The psychiatrist became confused when certain searches started repeating themselves, and even more so when the searches completely jumped off of the track and started concerning various brawlers and Japanese music instead of just the staff members.

"What are you doing?" he had asked quietly, tapping the screen with a letter opener. And then the box had disappeared—obviously the kid had wiped the history from the computer. Like he knew he was being monitored.

Oliver Stoelhart leaned back in his chair, twirling the letter opener like a majorette's baton as he thought about what his next course of action should be. He didn't really want to leak that he could watch the internet history of all brawl-linked computers, and he thought that going into the security camera feeds would be a bit much, especially considering that it was unlikely he'd learn all that much from the videos anyway. Not to mention that going into the cameras would mean talking to the broadcasting group…

But the problem still remained that Marth had stumbled onto the fact that the name Oliver Stoelhart had been removed from all of the records…The psychiatrist mulled the issue over, wondering if it would seem unreasonable for him to talk to the teenager about it. How could he make it seem like he just happened to notice Marth googling his name? And wouldn't that just complicate things? Should he just assume the issue was a contained incident and disregard it?

Oliver sighed again and flipped the letter opener into his palm, and then on a whim threw it at the opposite wall, wondering if he could actually get it to stick. It thunked into the soft paneling next to one of the bookshelves, causing the psychiatrist to roll his eyes as he stood up to retrieve it. He yanked it out from the wall and examined the mark it had left, wondering if he should move the bookcase to cover it. He glanced at the bookshelf and noticed a face-down photo that he must have flipped down himself a while ago. Oliver flipped it up curiously, and then slammed it back down quickly once he realized who was pictured.

He stomped back over to his desk and fell into the leather desk chair. He ran his hands through his dark hair, and then went back to his email, trying not to look over at the bookshelf again.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that a wonderful idea occurred to him, and suddenly the psychiatrist's fingers were flying across the keyboard, searching through the internet for something that would ensure that Marth wouldn't be looking too closely into things that had nothing to do with him again.

As an after-thought—more of a spin-off than an after-thought, really—Oliver typed in a new word into the search engine and began looking up dates.

He grinned despite himself. This would be entertaining.

**xXx**

**I have no idea what book Marth's reading. XD **

**Ah, Oliver. Do you guys mind the fact that he's been popping up a lot lately? :\ I need to stop ending my chapters with him…X_x The girl in the photo that he keeps face-down was his girlfriend. Her name was Est. Lame backstory is lame and tells you nothing. Mwahaha. My brain is fried. ;_;**

**BTW, I would not recommend googling any of the yaoi pairings I made fun of this chapter. It's…awkward. But you all seriously need to go check out awkwardzombie dot com or Hail-NekoYasha at deviantart. Her stuff is SO funny. XD I went through it all when I was home sick and I was alternately coughing, choking on my juice, laughing hysterically, or some disturbing combination of all three. **

**Anyway, Oliver is now planning revenge…and something else. The revenge will eventually lead to my explanation of the DQ incident, and the 'something else' is going to make up my next arc. :D I'm not going to say too much on the next arc except that at this point it involves cosplay and dogs and a coach bus and maybe some crazy fangirls. Fun times are ahead, my friends. Have fun guessing. XD**

**Next chapter will either be _MessengerOfDream's_ guest-author, seeing as he said he hopes to be Chapter 45, or something completely random and unrelated that I'll no-doubt think up at the last minute. Any last minute suggestions of randomness or reminders of suggestions I've forgotten to do are welcome. **

**Please review!**


	45. Chapter 45: Halloween Guest Author pt 1

**WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Guess what? **_**MessengerOfDreams**_** came through on his promise to do a guest-author, and not only did he write something epic, he wrote something RIDICULOUSLY epic. I tried reading this after my math test and seriously ticked my teacher off because I kept laughing. Get ready for something awesome, people.**

**Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; There's actually an epic "beam me up, Scotty" planned for the upcoming arc. ~ Thanks to **_**FullmetalWizard1995**_**; The brawlers are interesting people. WoOt! Ollie fans FTW! ~ Thanks to **_**piplupfan580**_**; *snickers* That is has. My LAWD there is so much yaoi on the internet! *scarred* ~ Thanks to **_**Waffleslayer**_** (epic username); I'm so impressed by everybody who reads all 44 chapters. Kudos to you. Captain Falcon will be hopefully playing a part in the upcoming arc, so don't worry! :D (but remind me again if I forget)~ Thanks to **_**AcolyeOfAzura**_**; He listens to that too. No kidding, right? I google the weirdest things too. ~ Thanks to **_**EggplantWitch**_**; Oliver is excellent because he's not entirely good and he's not entirely bad. :) Anyway, I'm sorry that some of the anime references were lost on you. ~ Thanks to R**_**aymondTHEspriter**_**; Meme references FTW and PRAISE THE LORD YOU HAVE RETURNED! *glomps* Anyway—YES. XD My gosh I'm so random today…But I'm using your chapter idea at some point, rest assured. ~ Thanks to **_**SgtPeppersLHCB**_**; Stoelhart is Stoelhart. XD MoD actually did an excellent job with him. ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Actually, Google does not support the use of the world googling, which seems backwards to me. X_x Dude, I can't even get people to do fanart of this. Nobody loves me. LOL at the Simpsons quote. ~ Thanks to **_**Zatanna's-magical-wish**_**; I do the whole Oliver thing on purpose. I should also mention that the arc involves our favorite psychiatrist shouting into a microphone at four in the morning. XD ~ Thanks to **_**redhazeKJ**_**; What were your ideas? I'm interested. And I'll be watching for your fic when it comes up. :) ~ Thanks to **_**NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95**_**; I think my favorite was actually the ledge-hogging one. Priceless. ~ Thanks to **_**SKTB**_**; Holy cow that's genius. XD Consider it done. ~ Thanks to **_**angel**_**; Oh, Hetalia. Remind me to do that for the arc. The Vocaloid song I was listening to at the time was actually VY2's remix of "Rotten Hersey and Chocolate," but that wasn't what Marth was listening to. XD ~ Thanks to **_**PockyGlameow**_**; LAYTON FTW! Nuff said. ~ Thanks to **_**TehGameBoy**_**; O0o . . . *goes off to fangirl scream in a corner* ~ Thanks to **_**White**_**; Perhaps, but I personally think that's been a bit overdone, ne? ~ Thanks to **_**catsrae**_**; The book Marth was interested in was Lockdown from the Escape from Furnace series which is such a boys' book but it was still really good. ~ And final thanks to **_**Chickyoudon'tknow**_**; XD I know, right? You can totally picture it. **

**One little note: I edited out all of MoD's highly entertaining cussing amongst the brawlers because everybody knows I tend to avoid that stuff, but I let one 'crap' slip through because it was required to get the joke. Hope you aren't scarred by that or anything. (it IS rated T...=_=)**

**From here on out, it's all **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**. Please read, enjoy (I know I am), and review the Game's first ever guest-author!**

**xXx**

**This! Is not the chapter I originally planned for her. xD**

**Yeah, I noticed a lack of Halloween chapters so this fine Halloween evening, after being completely shafted by the rich neighborhoods, I decided to start writing one for her! Ideas were actually bouncing around my head all night, but this is the one I just had to settle with.**

**If you know what movie I'm parodying, you love the Hangover as much as I do! Ahahahaha… oh wait… crud.**

**So yeah, here goes some fun parodying Halloweenness! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing (not even this story, how awesome is that? :D) regret nothing and let them forget nothing. **

**LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-**

**Chapter 45: Halloween: Part 1**

"Not so loud!"

Marth put a hand over his forehead, trying to suppress a pounding headache. He rolled over, trying to find out what the noise was that had perturbed him, when…

…he fell. Off of the top of the monkey bars and onto the padded playground's surface. Marth's heart caught in his throat as he realized he wasn't at home in bed, nor was it even light out. He gazed up at a crescent moon, almost entirely panicked.

"Where am I?" he whispered, not able to form a cognitive thought. He forced himself to pull up into a sitting position, leaning against a metal pole.

"Okay, just observe your surroundings, Marth," he tried keeping his breath steady as he looked around the playground. The most obvious first sight was the candy wrappers, soda bottles and occasional energy drink can. They were everywhere, covering everything and making the playground a wreck.

The second most obvious thing were his friends, sprawled around the disaster zone. He noticed Zelda lay face-up on the park bench, sleeping almost gracefully for someone who had a giant red stain on the breast of her… zero suit… and…

…_oh, my gosh. Her hair is… jeez, she's gonna flip._

As if in an attempt to deny the situation was happening, he looked below Zelda to see Link sitting at her feet, asleep, dressed in an- _oh this is just too rich._

He looked to his immediate right to see that next to his landing spot, Samus lay face down on the sidewalk. Her hair was sprawled all over the place and there were rips in her… purple dress. Vicious looking ones… one could even say animalistic.

_Not EVEN going to dwell on that._

He pulled himself up, trying to recall what happened earlier. He looked up to the skies, trying to judge how late in the evening it was. It seemed to be-

_What the-_

Sheik dangled from a tree branch, literally sleeping hanging on by one arm. He had to suppress a laugh. This whole situation felt entirely surreal. And was she dressed like… the Bride from Kill Bill. He should expect no less.

He finally broke down in quiet, smothered laughter, stumbling around the playground. He took one last look for familiar sights when he noticed a relieving one. A shock of blue spiky hair protruded from the inside of a bush, as well as a pair of tennis shoes from the far end.

Marth grinned widely, not bothering to control his own volume (and giving himself a headache) as he declared "Ah, Ike, it's great to see you here. I wonder what kind of mess you got yourself into!" Without a second thought, he pulled his friend out by the legs and through the bush.

"_What the heck?"_

"Crud, you're not Ike."

Marth leapt away, surprised, as Sonic the Hedgehog pulled himself further out of the bush. He shook some foliage out of his cerulean quills and steadied himself on his own two feet. He yawned and then asked "Hey… uh, where's my costume?"

"Costume?"

"Yeah, Marth," Sonic explained, trying to keep both his patience and his balance. "Costume. What you wear on Halloween."

"Halloween? Oh…"

Sonic chuckled lightly. "Things are starting to make sense. How hard did you hit your head?"

"I… I dunno. It feels like I rammed a tire iron into my skull sideways. What the… what happened?"

The hedgehog ran a finger through his quills. "Criminy, I… barely remember. I remember… I don't remember you guys, that's for sure, or how I got here. Or why…" His eyes drifted to Marth's forehead. Seeing something interesting, he grinned and stated "well this is quite amusing."

"What is?" Marth ran his hand onto his face, feeling for something out of the norm.

"Er… do you have... a lady friend... in one of these here girls?" Sonic's reply was hesitant and clearly dodging the point.

Marth caught on. "You're clearly dodging whatever point you have."

"You know what, just don't worry about it. We should try scraping the others off of the ground. Make some sense out of this."

"…Okay," Marth grumbled, stretching once more and trying to keep steady. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled up Samus by her arm and set her against the poll of the playground. She groaned as she forced her eyes open, mouth slightly ajar. Noticing Sonic was making his way towards Link and Zelda, he prepared to make his way towards Sheik to retrieve her from the tree. Through the bushes he forged on until he was under the maple and on top of a covering of concluded leaves.

"Sheik," he tried calling- no sense in climbing up immediately, especially seeing as he didn't want to. "Sheik, wake-"

His words were cut off by the event of Sheik awakening, losing her grip on the tree and promptly falling on top of Marth, who contemplated as he got a good taste of those dead leaves how much better of an idea climbing up would have been. Sheik groaned, rubbed her sore neck and climbed off of Marth and onto her own two feet, seemingly unaware of what she had just done.

When Marth was able to scrape himself onto his own two feet, he made his way to the center of the playground, where Samus, Link, Sonic, Zelda and Sheik were getting their bearings together.

"Shall we start with the… obvious?" Samus cracked, both in sharp lines and tight joints. "I'm sure that ought to amuse me enough for the time being."

Sonic gave a sly smile. "Sounds like fun."

"I could use a laugh," Link sighed, and Marth could tell that Link didn't expect to laugh at all.

"Alrighty then," Sonic nodded. "Brace yourselves."

"Brace… what… oh my gosh," Zelda barely managed to squeak out, and even then Marth could barely hear what she had mumbled.

Sonic didn't give her the time to reorganize her mind. "Alright. So, short version. We all are severely screwed up, it's the early morning after Halloween, this park's going to accumulate more litter fines than any of us make in our combined lifetimes, and I have a feeling that at least one of us is missing and that some, if not all of us are in big trouble."

"Oh, yeah," Sheik laughed. "The doc's going to drop dead." Some of the others laughed weakly as well, and Sonic could tell that not a single one of them knew why.

"Now, long version. Zelda, you have red stuff all over what I presume is Samus' space suit and your hair looks like it was clawed off by an inebriated Bowser."

"My hair… wuh…?"

"Your hair. It's almost entirely gone. You have a horrendous looking crew cut."

If anything, that seemed to wake her up rapidly, as she felt the top of her head and let out a sudden horrified shriek, nearly toppling off of the top of the monkey bars.

"Now that tidbit's out of the way. Link, you are dressed in the latest fashions… of fifteen year old girls shopping at Hot Topic. I mean, I give you props for the Foster the People tee but the black skirt is just going a bit too far now, isn't it? Although, the black eyeliner does bring out the blue in your eyes."

"You're knowledgable about this stuff, aren't you?" Samus smirked.

"I know," was the reply, not showing a hint of remorse.

Not even bothering to react himself, Link simply snapped from the bottom of the slide, "And that had better be my costume."

"I sure hope so. Alright, who wants to go next?"

Without a second thought, Marth raised his hand, instantly regretting it.

"Alright, so Marth. You look normal enough, not in costume or anything."

"…Good?"

"Yes, good. And I'm supposing one of the ladies thought so, as well, because you have a bold red lipstick stain on your forehead."

Simultaneously, all three girls, as well as Link, checked their lips to see if they had any on. In his own reaction, Marth buried his head in his hands. "I swear, Link, if this was you, I will _obliterate_ you."

"If that was me, I'll obliterate myself," Link fired back.

Sonic continued. "Sheik, you look better off than most of us, although how you got into the tree is beyond me. Also, nice costume."

Sheik checked to see just what costume she was wearing and replied with a slight smile. "Thanks. Love me some Tarantino."

"No problem. Anyway, last we have Samus. I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress before, but I'm pretty sure that's Zelda's. I'd make a joke about cross dressing but I think that's the last thing anyone needs."

"You got that right," Samus barked. "And it's ripped to pieces. How did that happen?"

"I have no idea," Sonic admitted. "Which reminds me, myself. All I know is that I can't find my costume and that I'm certain I didn't leave here with you guys."

"Oh, man, Ike," Marth suddenly blurted out.

"Ike!" Sheik shouted. "He was totally here with us, I remember that!"

"You would," Link scoffed, unperturbed by Sheik's none-too-amused glower. "But… has anyone seen him?"

"Heck, does anyone have a clue what happened to us?" Samus interjected. "He could be anywhere!"

"Well," Zelda could faintly be heard as saying "Rule number one of situations like these- always check in the last place you would expect."

"What's the last place we'd expect?" Marth asked.

"The first place we should expect," she explained as she started to wander around the playground.

"So the last place is the first place and the first place is the last place… alpha and omega, beginning and end- you're making no sense!" Sheik's confused mumbles turned into an angry shout.

"Come on, Sheik." Zelda whined, frustrated. "I'm half-awake after a case of random amnesia in a destroyed playground at five in the morning, nothing I say is gonna make any sense- oh, hey, Sonic is this your costume?"

"Turtle shell?" Sonic replied without missing a beat.

"Yeah." Zelda pointed to a plastic emerald shell, similar to a Koopa, perfectly kept on the ground as if it was a small shelter.

"That it is, Zelda, thanks for finding it."

"No problem." Zelda stretched for a brief moment and started to lift the plastic shell off of the ground.

"Turtle shell?" Samus smirked. "Very funny."

"Well," Sonic gave a wry smile, scratching his quills. "Fastest thing alive, turtle shell. Kind of a funny oxymoro-"

His words were cut off by a surprised yelp and the sound of a large plastic object bouncing off of the ground. The others leapt off of the equipment and clambered around her, Sonic taking the lead.

Sheik chuckled at what had caused everyone's reaction. "Hey, Ike," she waved.

"Hey, dear," Ike cracked back, barely conscious. "Lookin' good tonight."

"You… too." While trying to speak any further than that, she dissolved into a fit of giggles. It was pretty hard for anyone else to control their own amused reactions.

"Haha, very funny," Ike shot back with a genuine grin. "Now, anyone want to give me some clothes? I'm freezing out here- thank goodness I at least kept my underwear."

Samus spoke up. "You want Link's skirt or my dress? Maybe Sheik's jumpsuit?"

"I'll take the last one," Ike smirked.

"Like heck you will," the owner of said jumpsuit snapped back. Ike gave a smirk and clambered to his feet. "So anyone have any clothes for me?"

Sonic smirked, pointing to his left towards a garbage can. "Over there."

"Oh, so I brought clothes with me. Well, dang." Ike stumbled off of the ground and picked his outfit off of the trash can. "So… I dressed as… Frank… Sinatra. Ah, well. I can live with that, it's better than Link's."

"Hee hee."

"Hee hee, indeed." Ike grinned as he put a pair of dress pants, a sport jacket and a fedora. "Alright, so that's good. So where's Roy?"

"Roy?" everyone piped in unison.

"Yeah. Roy. He's with you guys right?"

The silence echoed through the playground.

Ike shrugged. "All I remember is who went tonight- me, Sheik, Roy, Link, Zelda and Samus… and apparently Sonic. Don't ask me why, that's just what I know."

Everyone started back at him with blank expressions until Sheik finally groaned "Oh, come on!"

"The plot thickens," Sonic mused. "At the very least, this will be a tale for the grandkids."

"If we can't get this mess sorted out," Sheik began a rant as she fell against the trash can, "I'm going to kick you so hard your grandkids will feel it, but they won't be able to cause you won't _have any grandkids!"_

Sonic blinked. "Okay, so might as well get started."

"Yeah," Zelda replied. "It's already three-forty-seven in the morning, we don't have much time."

"Yeah, we- how did you know it's five-forty-seven?" Marth asked, turning towards Zelda.

"Oh, I looked on my phone- well, duh." Zelda smacked her forehead and pulled it out of the zero suit. "So… shall we try and see who we called?"

"That's a start," Link offered in his first tidbit of optimism.

Zelda gave a slight smile and started to maneuver his phone. "So, last calls. I made one to the psychiatrist at around nine at night, one to Link at midnight and… that's pretty much all my calls I made this evening."

"Texts?" Sheik asked, leaning over her shoulder.

"I'm getting to it, I'm getting to it!" Zelda groaned. "Okay, so…" Her face instantly blanched as she glanced into her phone. "Mother of Din."

"What, what?" Sheik asked. Zelda only responded by exiting the text menu and shoving her phone back into her pocket.

"You get that thing back out here!" Sheik demanded, leaping onto the princess like a rabid koala.

"No, there's nothing! I only sent texts to Link, that's it, I swear!" Zelda pleaded. "Let's just, please, leave it at that!"

Ike interrupted the debacle by pulling Sheik off of Zelda. "Okay, so… anything important in those texts?"

"No," Zelda insisted, fully blushing.

"Alright, I'll trust you on that one." Ike let Sheik go and started to stroll around the park. "Criminy, this place looks disastrous! Where do we even get that much junk food anyway, I'm pretty sure the houses weren't giving out Monsters."

"That's a clue!" Samus nearly dove onto the ground. "Somewhere in this garbage there has to be a receipt. We find that, there's a clue right there for us."

"Plus, I should hope that we can clean this place up quickly before anyone notices," Marth suggested.

"Cleaning and clues and mysteries… when did we fall into Nick Jr. after hours?" Sheik quipped, stooping down to pick up the garbage strewn around the slide. "I just can't wait for all of this to be over with."

Ike stooped down next to her with a comforting smile. "Hah, me either," he offered. As Sheik looked through the different wrappers for anything resembling usefulness, he took the trash and created a small pile out of it.

"Thanks," she replied automatically. She stopped, put her head in her hands and muttered with a dark laugh "We're in the crap now, aren't we?"

"I have no doubt," Ike grinned. Sheik glowered and punched him in the shoulder.

"What?" he laughed. "Would you rather I lie to you?" After receiving another punch to his arm, he quieted, getting back to sifting through the trash.

"I'm starting to suspect that you punch me every time I'm right and you don't want to hear it." When she punched him again, albeit with much less effort, he smiled softly and brushed his hand across her back awkwardly before getting back to work.

When she knew he wasn't looking back at her, she smiled, just a bit.

"Got it!" she heard Link call out, holding a small white paper in the air.

"Well, that's the game," Ike declared nonchalantly, scooping up their modest pile of trash and dropping it into the trash can. The group clambered together around Link, who started to read off the receipt.

"Alright, it says Plaid Pantry, 5100 SE Holgate, Port- _okay, how the heck did we end up in Oregon?"_

Dead silence reigned. Link was pretty sure someone dropped onto the ground.

Sonic was the first to speak, himself quite surprised. "We're in… Oregon?"

Link nodded. "Says right here. Pass it around."

Sonic found no voice to react, instead taking the receipt, reading it, and quietly passing it to the next person.

Samus was first to speak again, after everyone took a look at it. "Okay, we're in Oregon. Even if we're at the tippy top, we're still more than three hundred miles away from home. We're so _dead!"_

"Heck, there is no way I'm ever going back once the psychiatrist finds out how far away from home we strayed!" Marth declared. Thoughts of what he had put together about Oliver raced through his mind all in one chilling second. "We're so dead. So, so, so, so dead."

"Alright, don't panic!" Ike shouted, his voice commanding silence throughout the room. "We gotta take this a step at a time. Otherwise we're really dead."

"Who votes we call Stoelhart and beg for our lives?" Link suggested.

"Not a good idea!" Marth interjected, his voice fraught with nerves. "If he finds out we lost Roy, we're really up the river. We find Roy and then we figure out what to do."

"…This is a terrible idea," Sheik replied. "I'm in."

"In?" Zelda protested. "But you just said-"

"I know what I said!" Sheik shouted, kicking her in the leg. "But think about it. We tell Stoelhart we lost Roy, and then what's the first thing he's gonna do?"

"Call the police?" Sonic inquired.

"Skip the police and go straight for the feds. We blazed a three hundred mile trail through two states and possibly two countries. He could be anywhere between here and home, can you fathom that?"

"So… we're going to look for him throughout those entire three hundred miles, on our own?"

Sheik growled and punched Ike in his arm. "Well… that's what they're going to think. He's probably in town here, somewhere. He won't be that hard to find."

Noticing unconvinced glares, she shouted "Oh, come on! It's not like we haven't done anything more dangerous than that in our whole lives! Get real, people!"

Marth spoke up first. "I know going on adventures while suffering a sugar hangover is generally not recommended but… heck, I'm in."

"This had better work," Zelda sighed as she raised her hand up.

"I'm all for figuring out what happened here," Sonic pitched in.

"Why not," Link shrugged.

"If you say so," Ike nodded. "Since we're dead anyway, may as well die with a bang."

Samus raised her hand up. "Since I'm pretty much outvoted anyway," she explained.

"Then it's settled. We can start by heading to Plaid Pantry," she declared. "Let's get out of here."

"We should probably ask for directions first, Cap'n."

Ike kept a smirk on his face even as Sheik punched him.

**xXx (hey look, he gets my awesome author-segmenting thingamajig…XD)**

**MoD/N: And concludes part one of this epic saga! I hope to have left you with a lot of questions and a desire to stare at the bottom of the page in the prayer of there being more words sprouting out miraculously! ...maybe that's a bit harsh, but I like me some anticipation!**

**I love it, too, going into one of my favorite fics and completely turning everything on its head. I hope to do it (and the Hangover) some justice. xD Thanks again, Mouse, and thank you all for reading!**

**Now to stalk this fic every day to see the new reviews for it! Also expect me to reply to y'all Mousey style!**

**Thanks to MouseMaster, the readers, the Wolfpack, my mom, Zack Galafanakis, all those who believed in me and thank you, thank you silence! Er, I mean Nintendo  
MoD.**

**xXx**

**THEY'RE IN OREGON! It's me (Mousey) again: Next chapter will be MoD's conclusion to his mini-arc of epicness, and then I'm just going to jump right into my planned arc after that unless there are any objections. :D The DQ chapter is still planned, but I just got a new idea and need some time to work out the kinks. **

**Please review and give this guy some love! Actually, reply in great, long, extraneous detail just so he has to reply to it. ;P**


	46. Chapter 46: Halloween Guest Author pt 2

**Ah my gawd I totally am behind! Sorry, guys, I've had no internet for a few days and I've also had another big internet project going on. So this Halloween conclusion will come out in… December. Ain't I just fu- *Mouse Bomb* awesome? **

…**pbbt. I'm gonna have to get used to censors. :P Not that I even cuss that much. xD Anyway, a sign I've made it big time- time to answer fan mail! :D And holy crap this will take up nearly a chapter worth as it is! O.o**

_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**- First off, I had a lot of fun spelling your name without copypasta. :P Don't get me wrong, though, it's awesome. And I'm glad you liked the chapter! :D Not much more to say than that! **

_**FullmetalWizard1995**_**- Well they're Brawlers. They come to the upper Washington/lower Canada area to fight/hang/fall in love with each other. This is just a side adventure! :D Albeit not one they want. And as for how they get back and if they find Roy, I can tell you…. that you will probably not like the news I'm about to break. XD This edit has been brought to you by time travel.**

_**Ttme123- **_**One of the funniest so far? Haha, thanks, I wasn't aware I could be that funny in something so rehearsed! And the texts? Pfft, this is Mousey's story so I'll have to let you leave that up to your imagination. Hahaha! **

_**AcolyteOfAzura- **_**A genius? Dawww! As for Hangover references, actually, not that many. Sonic is sort of the answer to the tiger and all that and the situation is kinda similar, but I'm actually not really throwing in that many hidden references. :P It's just inspired for by the movie. The Drunken Mystery Game… haha, at least your cousin can make the best out of it. Give him my props! :D If he doesn't mind props from a mysterious internet entity. Starting him off naked in a stranger's… sorry, Mousey story! Hahahahaha… Mouse you're gonna shoot me now aren't you? :P**

_**Sir StarIII (or are those lowercase Ls?) **_**I'm sure if that were you at that moment in that situation it'd take you a few weeks to consider it an 'adventure.' But haha, what am I saying? I've never actually had one like this before… I swear! But I know what you mean by almost memories. Alpha and Omega is simply the Bible verse, which I always thought to be epic even as an agnostic. And that conclusion for Roy is unquestionably original but I'm particularly proud of my arc conclusion. **

_**Smasher-The-Keyblade-Bearer- **_**Priceless reaction. :D I have done my job well.**

_**Zatanna's Magical Wish- **_**I'm glad you bestowed your love, blessing and… flowers and peaches on this arc I'm doing! It's an honor!**

_**Piplupfan580- **_**Thanks for the praise! :D And I love suspense, although I'm sorry I kept you guys on the edge of your seat for weeks. **

_**RaymondTHEspriter- **_**Don't worry about my review in Mouse's story- I already checked her reviews for whatever reason before it was even my chapter! (I do that with all my faves.) I'm glad you found it amazing! I felt a need to include Sonic in there after Mouse's hinting inclusion of him in the last chapter. As for more people…eh I may randomly change my mind mid type so I'm not gonna confirm anything. Zelda's hair… well it'll make a good crew cut… maybe… and no problem, Mouse deserves full credit for letting this crazy teen write a chapter! If Mousey wants to throw in her reply to you, I assume she'll either do it down there or she already did it up there, in which case yay time travel!**

_**Foxpilot (my longest reply)-**_** …maybe it's cause I'm slow but I can't figure out rule two but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Fight Club (another movie I really need to see. Shoot me.) Even though I started this reply on Wednesday and finished it on Friday due to leaving the computer I still haven't figured it out. Also, isn't it odd how time works when writing a fic in retrospect? In fact, you know what's even funnier? I'm going to literally finish writing your very reply when I finish the chapter so my answers are clearer! :D Isn't it great that I pick you for my mind games? :D**

**Alright! Now to finish answering the rest of your question! Wasn't it a long wait? For me, yes, two weeks. :P Anyway, Oregon's overlooked? For shame. We're awesome! And good call but, they can't be in Michigan! I don't know what it's like! A word genie… so that's what they call it. **

**NOOOOOOOOOOOO- I screwed up the time? SHOOT ME. It's actually the five o clock whatever. I went specifically to fix the time and then forgot to. -_- Same thing happens to me when I'm moderating forums. Which isn't good. Glad you liked the chapter though!**

_**NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95 (yay copypasta)-**_** I think I'm like the enemy of math teachers. O.o But I'm glad you liked it! Who knows what will happen next? (hint: I do. :3)**

_**Angel- **_**Why are they in Oregon? That, m'dear, is the question. ;-)**

_**RedhazeKJ- **_**Glad you LOVED IT! I imagine these guys are a lot like groups of friends, only they're all heroes and from distant worlds, and at least 4 of them wield swords. And the stadium is somewhere between Seattle and Vancouver BC, according to the MouseMaster. :D As for Roy… read! I can't tell you this stuff! :D**

_**SGTPepper'sLHCB**_**- Another Foster the People fan! :D Yay! Also, glad you liked Sonic! I tried to fulfill Mousey's vision of him from last chapter in full light. **

_**Diggs121- **_**Whoa, that's crazy, cause I was writing part of this at Woodstock Library, thinking "I'd have loved it if someone saw what I was typing and asked me who I was and if this was **_**The Game**_**." That'd have made my day. Ah, well, excellent to have another resident from town!**

_**Lost Triforce- **_**…yo, is anyone missing a Triforce? No? Ah well. So, so, SO thrilled I lived up to Mousey! I think of myself to be a good author but I'm mostly philosophical romance type stuff. This kind of lighthearted crazy fun is totally out of my comfort zone but by god I just had to! And I'm so glad I did well!**

_**Patchz- **_**Probably the worst chapter you could have caught up into. XD XD I can't explain much of what goes on, but I'm sure Mousey can answer your questions better than I!**

_**TehGameBoy- **_**How Ironic you posted about my slowness on the day I upload! Ask and you shall receive! (even though you'd be receiving anyways!) And as for Rainbow Dash… guess what. None of the Smashers are Bronies. :trollface: Oh dear I gave Mousey ideas… CURSE YOU ! alsogladyoulikedthechapter**

**So, good questions by all, even though I haven't answered half of them yet! And now that, two weeks later, I interjected this sentence, I can say that they were all good questions and I answered them all! :P Anyway, straightaway to the chapter! As it turns out, this will not be the end of the arc! That will be tomorrow. Reason being that overall I am on word 8,000 of what will inevitably be a 10,000 word arc, and I'm going to blow up if I write any more at this moment, just as much as you would being faced with 10,000 words at once. Thanks again, Mouse! Part three will be finished soon as I can! :D **

**Disclaimer: This is Mousey's work, so I don't own that… or anything else, I regret nothing (and thanks to Mousey for helping- I almost regretted C'est La Vie) and let them forget nothing (hey guys, you're reading a guest chapter from MoD on The Game by MouseMaster and I strive for brilliance and IT'S NOW A THREE PARTER!)**

**Right this way!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 46- This is Halloween! **

After gathering some directions, the crew found themselves on an old creaky bus down Holgate. Marth reclined on one of the plastic seats as best as he could, which was quite hard to manage. He looked out the window into the dimly lit suburbs that surrounded him as he kept an eye out for 52nd avenue.

Samus sat next to him, facing the other way and trying to keep a reasonable distance. Marth had a temptation to put a hand on her shoulder, but he knew she was in a volatile state of mind and so he kept to himself, knees bunched against the seat in front of him. He looked around and saw the rest of his friends, sans Roy of course, sprawled all over the bus, looking very much hung over. Zelda lay against Link, and Marth noticed that even then, he ran a hand through her mishandled hair comforting. Marth liked that about him, his evident care for her.

With that thought, he glanced over at Samus again, noticing on her face was an emotion she rarely showed- being distraught. A frown creased her skin and her eyes had some life faded out of them. Her chin rested on the metal bar of the bus and her hands were on either side of her head on the bar as well.

He sighed with a weary smile and gingerly lifted her hands off the bar. "You don't want to do that," he insisted quietly. "God knows what kind of germs these things have." She groaned but didn't resist, going so far as to lift her chin off as well and fall into her seat.

Marth gave her a smile, which she caught with the corner of her eye. "Hey, don't worry," he assured her. "Things will work out. This is… it's like a flash in the pan considering all that we've been through before."

Her response was a frustrated, wordless groan.

Marth wrinkled his eyebrow but didn't back away. "The worst we could do is end up in trouble, Sam. I'd prefer that to-"

"That's not the worst we could do," Samus snapped back bitterly. "We could have left Roy stranded along the side of the road in Yakima for all we know. We're morons, Marth. Complete, utter morons. We could have killed him!"

Marth's heart dropped because he knew she just might have been right, but he didn't show it. "Samus, you're worrying yourself too much. Everything will be alright." With that, he ventured a hand onto her shoulder and a comforting smile on his face.

"Yeah, well…" Samus dropped her argument and allowed herself a wisp of a smile. Marth closed his eyes and grinned, feeling accomplished.

A minute or two passed before Ike announced "Pretty sure we're coming up on 52nd. Let's get ready." Discomfort, exhaustion and pain sounded off through the bus as Ike rang the bell, bringing himself to his feet. The bus pulled up to the stop, waiting patiently as the group scraped themselves off and outside, Sonic the only one with a genuine smile on his face as he carried his shell on his back.

Sheik noticed, annoyed. "Why are you so happy, punk?" she groaned as she stretched.

Sonic didn't let her attitude get to him. "I'm a walking, talking hedgehog wearing a turtle shell on Halloween night, and the bus driver looks at me like I'm completely normal." Upon finishing, he laughed and lay against the fencing of a tire store. "I like this town," he stated lightly. "I gotta come back."

"Speak for yourself," Link muttered. "I'm going to be forever associating this town with utter humiliation. If I come across it on a map, I'll probably end up bursting into tears."

Sonic chuckled. "Well, maybe now. I really think we're going to be looking back on this day with laughter."

"Shut… up!" Sheik begged, clutching her head. "I'm going to end up killing you if you keep this up, I swear!"

Sonic's eyes widened and he stopped; not so much from the threat as much as alienation from her behavior. He crossed the street, letting the others trail behind him haphazardly. Waiting until the others caught up, he stood by the front door of the Plaid Pantry and proceeded to let them in, not making eye contact with any of them.

Ike, feeling quite a bit less bitter than the rest of the humanoids, took the initiative to talk to the middle-aged lady at the register, who sported short black hair and a crooked, knowing grin as she saw the teens. Ike tipped his fedora politely at the cashier, as if it could somehow alleviate the mess of a group that stood in front of her. "Hello, miss," he greeted her warmly. "I don't know if you remember us, we wandered in here sometime tonight?"

She nodded, chuckling. "Yep, I remember you all."

"That's great, really," Ike gave a polite laugh back as he began to make his ludicrous point, "because, you see, we can't."

The lady didn't seem to be fazed by this at all. "Oh, well okay. So what do you need to know?"

There was silence on the Smashers' end as they thought it over for a brief moment. Ike proceeded to say "Uh… everything…"

Her crooked grin widened and she let out a laugh. When her audience blinked unanimously, she clarified, amused. "Ah, don't worry, this is nothing new for me. In fact it's shockingly familiar. I usually call this game 'Mel Stevens, Hangover Detective.' That's me, by the way."

"I assure you, Mel Stevens, we are not hung over…" Ike replied, but then granted her "at least, not on beer."

"Well, that's what happens when you buy a carton's worth of Energy drinks at midnight and split it between the six of you. Where did you wake up, anyway?"

"Uh, this… park… by Holgate but south-ish?" Ike elaborated.

"Ah, Lents Park?" she replied without missing a beat.

"Yeah, that one," Ike nodded.

"Wait," Samus interjected. "Six of us, right?"

"Yep," Mel replied. "Everyone except the guy in the killer Sonic costume."

"Not a costume," Sonic replied, simply raising his hand.

"Ah! Portland."

"Love this place!"

"Shut up, Sonic. Anyway, so just the six humans?" Samus continued. "What did we look like? Same as now?"

"Well…" Mel put a hand under her chin. "Walk by one at a time and let me take a quick look. I can see some obvious ones but… help me out, okay?"

Ike was first. "Well, you look same as before," Mel clarified. "Spiffy suit, too. Where'd you get that?"

"I don't know."

"Oh! Yeah, my bad!"

Samus walked by next. "You… well same dress, in fact, it was ripped up too. Ah, well, let the crossdresser by next!"

Link grumbled and stood in front of the stand. Mel _hmm_ed and declared "Well, from what I remember, you were wearing a woman's clothing but it was a blue, form fitting jumpsuit."

Link blinked. "You're kidding me. Same condition as before?"

"Yeah… with the blood and everything. I figure it was for one of those zombie disguises. I swear, you can tack the word _zombie _onto anything and it's an acceptable costume. Same with _vampires, _what with that-"

"Can we move along?" Samus asked tersely.

"Yes! My bad! Can the… short haired girl come by next?" As Link went to leave, Mel stopped him with "No! Crossdresser stays." He groaned but didn't protest, staying in front of the checkout stand. Zelda sheepishly walked up next to Link, squeaking out a "Hi."

"Hi, sweetie," Mel gave her a sympathetic smile as she looked the princess over. She clicked her tongue and said "Oh, honey… that's not how you do short hair at all. Trust me, from experience. You can pull it off, I can tell, just by the structure of your face. Gorgeous! But that wasn't how you do it."

Zelda could sense tears coming to her eyes and even Link's expression softened at Mel's words. "But anyway," the cashier continued, "why I kept the boy with you was because you're wearing what he was wearing before and, well, he's wearing everything you were before."

"Really?" Link tried to hide that he was relieved, if just a bit.

"Yep. Right down to the makeup. She must have done that for you, boy."

"What? I'm perfectly capable-"

"Of putting your own lipstick and eyeliner on? If that's your kind of thing, more power to you. I see it quite a bit down here."

"Portland?" Sonic offered.

"You got it!"

"Yes!"

"Anyway," Mel continued, "let the one with good taste in movies by next." Without hesitation, Sheik walked into her sights. "Yep. Same as before. You seem to have gotten off scotch free."

"Yes!" Sheik cheered in a whisper. Mel gave her a thumbs up and ushered Marth through. As she observed him, she gave him a confirming nod and grin. "You're pretty much the same as before as well, albeit you got a bit lucky in between then and now."

"Eh…" Marth shrugged. "If that's his lipstick, I'm probably far from lucky."

"Hm! Suit yourself!" Mel cracked a laugh. "Alright, now Mister Hedgehog. Front and center!"

Sonic nodded, almost instantly standing in front of the register. Mel looked him over and suddenly gave him a hearty handshake. "You got a good spirit. I like that. Keep it up, okay?"

Sonic laughed. "Why thank you, ma'am!"

"Ah, it's nothing," Mel insisted. "Anyway, what else do you need to know?"

It took nary a second before Samus asked "Wait! I remember. Did you happen to see a red haired boy come through here, at all tonight?"

Mel took a second to think before answering "Afraid not. You lost him?" Shamefully, everyone nodded. Mel sighed, raising an eyebrow but stating "Well… if my knowledge of movies serves any help, he's likely to be in the first place you should be thinking of, but the last place you actually do think of."

"Told you," Zelda reminded everyone quietly.

Marth sighed, "Well, we have to credit you that. Anyway, do you know how we got in here? Did we park a car here at all?"

"Yes, actually, I made sure to check the moment I saw that carton of Monsters. Seemed like a looming omen as soon as I saw them all. Anyway, you drove in with a Honda SUV… Pilot, I believe it's called."

Samus snapped her fingers. "That's our car," she realized. "So, we passed here in our car?"

"Yep! In and out with it."

"Alright, thank you," Ike stated. "That should do it."

Mel nodded with a smile. "Alright, then. You crazy kids have good luck getting everything together!"

Ike gave the kind cashier a cordial grin. "Thank you, Mel Stevens. You have a good even… morning."

"You too!" she called as the others wandered out, offering halfhearted waves, except for Sonic, who gave a smile and a thumbs up.

As soon as the Smashers were outside, they dashed across the street to the stop they departed from. Zelda and Link took the seats, the others willing to stand. Sheik spoke first. "So, the frivolous details are… nice…" she started with a snicker directed at Link and Zelda.

"Stuff it," Link mumbled. "I get what an idiot I look like, alright?"

"Ooh, someone's acting prissy," Sheik raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"_Anyway,_" Marth interjected, "Other than the fun stuff, we didn't really get much of a lead, except that Sonic wasn't here with us the first time, Roy wasn't with us at all, and we were using our car."

"That's where you're wrong, my dear," Samus declared with a proud grin as she stood against the fencing for the tire shop. "You see, I am willing to bet that wherever our car is, Roy is. And I'm also willing to bet that Roy, and the car, are right back where we started. Lents Park."

"Just like Mel-"

"And I."

"And Zelda said it would be," Marth mused. "Wow, we're morons, but if it means we can get out of this getting in as little trouble as possible, I wouldn't care if he was standing next to us the entire time, partaking in our conversation."

As soon as he said that, his eyes widened and his face blanched, and he looked over everyone in suspicion. Link rolled his eyes and stated "No, Marth, none of us are Roy."

Marth pulled lightly on one of Ike's blue tufts of hair and mumbled "If you insist. So now we just have to wait for one of the buses and head towards the park, right?"

Samus nodded. "Sounds like it. That good with everyone else?" There was a unanimous nod as Samus stated "Well so be it. Looks like we'll be out of this thing in no time."

A weak cheer spread through the group of smashers, even Link donning a small grin. Samus closed her eyes and spared a grin for Marth. "You know," he stated, "you're right. We may end up coming out of this all right after all."

Marth smiled and took her hand but said nothing except "I think we will too."

**~MoD~**

"Okay, I don't see it on the west side of the park."

"Dammit, Sheik. Well, keep looking around there."

"Ugh… got it, Samus."

"Link, what about you?"

"Not in the parking lots, either."

"I looked there already! Look in the surrounding streets near the park."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay… Ike, you're not honestly looking in the basketball court, are you?"

"You never know how stupid we could be."

"Well you provide a good enough example."

"Whatever!"

Samus sighed, slumping against a wall with the park's name engraved on the simple stone in lifeless letters. Sonic dashed in front of her from nowhere, causing her to jolt slightly. "Sorry," Sonic offered. "But yeah, I checked all around the park, the neighborhoods around, in the Gas Station, in the light rail park and ride, and there's no Honda Pilot. Anywhere."

"Really?" Samus stared down the sky and threw her hands in the air. "Well… okay, can you tell everyone to stop searching and meet me back here?"

"Got it," Sonic nodded. Samus sighed once more as she resumed her position on the wall, her head in her hands. In twenty seconds, Sonic popped back in front of her, stating "Okay, done. They'll be back in a minute or two."

She chuckled as a response. "Well, great," she said, looking up at the sky that was just starting to lighten a tad bit. "We're screwed. We're so screwed." She started to laugh bitterly as she repeated "We're just so freaking screwed it's unbelievable. So, so, so, so, so…" she threw her hands in the sky and nearly shouted, "_dead!"_

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Naw," he stated, looking up at the breaking dawn. "It isn't over until we've exhausted every option. And to exhaust every option we'd have to scour every corner of this city, and by then surely Roy will have found his way to somewhere safe. And if you're worried about us, well, don't. Because we're already in an unfathomable amount of trouble so we can just pretty much let go of any abandon, y'know?"

He patted her on the shoulder for a brief second and finished with "See? All our problems are pretty much gone. We're gonna find Roy and then we don't have to worry about how we do it."

Samus sighed. "Dang it… you're very right." She laughed again, and Sonic could tell she meant it this time. "Ah, well. Here come the others anyways."

The group formed slowly, the members meeting at a picnic table in unison. Link was the first to state the obvious. "No car."

"Afraid not," Sonic replied with a sigh. "Not yet."

Marth sighed, stretching his muscles. "So… now what do we do?"

"We think," Sonic insisted. "Was there anything in that car that we can access from out here? I'm not sure if we have any working phones in there that we could call… it's not much but we can pray someone answers."

Zelda nodded. "You know, come to think of it, I can do better than that." She pulled out her phone and started to operate it. "If I'm not mistaken, I used my phone to help us get around. Look up directions and other such things. I can probably tell you where we were with the car and how we could have gotten here."

Link grinned for the first time that night. "Excellent, Zelda."

She giggled. "Why thank you Link." All was silent for a few moments before she stated "Aha! Well, the last thing we did with the car was go from Plaid Pantry to a hotel on 11th and Holiday, by the Convention Center. I reckon that's probably where the car was. I'll check the transit planners to see where we went from there, but if my hunch is correct, we probably didn't care where we went as long as we had a good time."

"Convention Center," Sonic mused almost instantly. "Well I checked out that rail station when I was looking for our car. According to the maps, we can take a train from here straight there in around twenty minutes."

Samus nodded. "So that's what we do. Lead the way, Sonic."

"Alrighty, miss. With pleasure." And with that, Sonic started to walk towards to the station, the others following with a renewed energy.

**~MoD (this chapter is so frekin (Mouse here: you guys are okay with frekin', right?) longggggg)~**

Thirty minutes later found the group disembarking the considerably nice train and standing in front of the Doubletree Hotel on Holladay and 11th street. Tall business buildings surrounded them on both sides, and a small park opened the east to them. To the west, down Holladay where their train was heading, the glass spires of the Convention Center shone in the rising sun, and further down a large, gray bridge was barely visible. The hotel itself was a tall building with an open entrance and an easily seen interior that was nearly golden. Marth summarized everyone's thoughts easily with "Nice hotel."

Sonic nodded. "Totally. Wish we had scored that hotel. However, I don't see the car just yet. Let me take a look through the parking garages, okay? I'll be back in a bit."

"And he really does mean 'a bit,'" Samus added, causing Sonic to smile widely. "Good luck, Sonic. Try not to get hit by any-"

"I won't!" she heard his reply, a small sound from nearly a block away down the street. Samus laughed and shook her head.

"Should we start looking?" Marth asked as the sun began to rise.

Ike shook his head. "Five bucks says he gets all the cars searched by the time that light turns red."He pointed to the light signal above the train tracks, which had just turned green.

"Nice way to give yourself some cushion room," Link smirked.

"Oh, so are you challenging me?"

"I think I do."

"Fine with me. Just don't pay me in coupons for lipstick, alright, fairy boy?"

"I'll show you fairy boy, you son of a-"

Ike just smirked. "We'll settle this with that light. Got it, fairy boy?"

"Whatever," Link rolled his eyes, then immediately fixing them on the signal.

"Walk signal has ten seconds left on it," Sheik threw in, hand on her hip and eyebrow raised. Zelda cracked an amused smile and asked Samus "Hey, leader, you think if we have time before we do whatever's next, we can clean up a bit? I'm getting sick of wearing this jumpsuit; it's seriously tight on me."

"No kidding," Samus laughed, adjusting Zelda's tattered dress. "I just cannot get accustomed to such flowy clothes- I feel naked. It's driving me nuts."

"Hey, Ike," Link elbowed his friend. "The light is yellow, and guess what, no-"

Link's sentence was interrupted when he jumped backwards, tumbling to the ground as a car careened past him with no intent to stop. "What was that?" he demanded, almost entirely muted by an extended shout from a young male voice that rang through the area as fast as the car was.

"That was our car!" Samus shouted, unsure but on edge.

"That was our car!" Zelda confirmed.

"And was that Sonic?" Marth asked.

Suddenly, Sonic's plastic turtle shell bounced down the street, clattering to a halt along the sidewalk a block down from where they were. "That was Sonic," Ike said without as much as a hint of surprise. "We gotta move."

Immediately, the teens began to run, and while they did, Sheik asked "Well, we're running, but how the heck do we catch the car?"

Ike threw his hands in the air. "I don't know! Look around you! Check out our surroundings! What do you see?"

Almost immediately, Zelda shouted "I see a Zipcar! It's a car renting service of some sort if I remember correctly. The door's open, maybe we can get in!"

"Steal a car to catch a stolen car?" Sheik laughed as they began to slow down. "That sounds great. Where is the car?"

"Er…" Zelda hesitated. "See, that's where it gets interesting…"

**So! I'm a boldfaced *Mousebomb* liar! Looks like this will be a three parter! Worry thou not, though, for this shall be finished tomorrow, as I'm almost finished as it is! As for now… I'm going to fall into an exhausted heap and then get back up to bust my butt on the finished product! Thanks for your epic questions and keep on asking!**

**~MoD (take it away, Mousey. I'm going to collapse now and finish the arc later)**

**xXx**

**Mouse here: After realizing that MoD's chapter was going to be massive, we decided to split it again. Final installment should go up tomorrow if all goes according to plan, and then it's CHRISTMAS. Hoorah. And I'll take time to respond to the lovely authors who talked to me in their reviews when I start writing again, but the chapter was huge enough without me sticking my thoughts in too…I hope I didn't miss censoring anything that should have been, but it's rated T, right? X_x**

**Please review!**


	47. Chapter 47: Halloween Guest Author pt 3

**Well, guys, I hope you're prepared for 7,500 words. I believe this whole arc, A/Ns aside, tops 15,000. Whoa, that's the third biggest fanfic project I've completed in my realm of philosophical pretty short stories.**

**Anyway, I'd like to apologize for leaving a "d*mmit" in the last chapter. Sure, I'm pretty sure no one noticed and that I'm sure most of you are indifferent and even noting the fact that I feel goofy for censoring that word. But ultimately this is Mousey's story and I should be paying more attention. **(Mousenote: Aw, dangit. Missed it completely. X_x I fail at life.)

**Also, the end of arc A/N was written before this one. :D**

**Fan mail! :D**

_**Foxpilot- …**_**I'll respond to your review when I can think more clearly and I'm not tired at midnight. In fact, I'll do all the A/Ns in the morning. Yay time travel!**

**Okay, now that I can think more clearly, I shalt try and make sense of your review. I guess I am a slow updater, just this once (I cranked out Paradigms within less than two months, and Skyward to Freedom in a week, after all.) I finished a week before Christmas, though, so give me credit there. Slow updates are really due more to wars with my internet than anything (i.e. going to the library and copypasting this from a forum PM and completely reformatting it.) It does seem a bit patched together, you're right, but nothing was different than I intended. And you're actually quite right about philosophy and comedy- I'm pretty sure it'll show up here. Thanks!**

_**Skye-Moonknight7913- **_**I should hope it's at least a bit epic given the circumstances! **

_**TwiliRupee- **_**This is one of the greatest, isn't it? Mousey does a damn good job. And I'm glad you liked my guest chapter!**

_**NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95-**_**Better than the original? Whoa! Thanks, I still laugh hard at the original! Watched it last night while writing this chapter! And I know where Roy is! He's *Mouse Bomb*. Thanks for the review!**

_**SgtPeppersLHCB-**_**Well thank you for your patience! I'm glad I did a good job on Sonic. I've never thought of using him before. Thanks for reading!**

_**FullmetalWizard1995-**_** Well, three days later. Sorry. :P Glad you think it's great!**

_**Piplupfan580-**_** I was proud that I figured out Sonic's costume. :D Glad you liked the suspense! Cause I brought enough of it. :P**

_**Zatanna's-magical-wish- **_**Well this is more of a four-parter in three chapters. :P And an epilogue. But I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for wishing me luck!**

_**Lord Lithos Maitreya- **_**Horror? Oh, eff that. I hate horror. xD Glad you liked it!**

_**Myriads of Mysteries- **_**You would be speaking to one. A long time, loving, map-studying so-Autistic-that-I'm-forever-into-this-city-from-birth resident of Portland. :D Nice to see fellow Portlanders loving this work!**

_**AcolyteOfAzura- **_**I'm sorreh! So sorreh! D: I'm glad you like Mel Stevens, the only literal OC of this entire story. Pretty much influenced of this really neat cashier at Grocery Outlet with just a smidge of Flo from Progressive. And the wait is over if you can go through 8,000 words. xD And that is what I've been telling Mousey! XD And thanks for the pat on the back!**

_**Sir StarIlI (see what I did there? :3) **_**I'm glad you like this Sonic! Kind of the chill guy to the tense teens. Thanks for reading!**

_**Jenakin Ramsobi- **_**Pardon me if I misunderstand, but you know I wrote the last two chapters, right? ;-) Haha, I'm glad you like Mel Stevens as well! I'll remember that! She could appear more somehow, if Mousey wants. :D But that's unlikely (unless she formerly worked at Dairy Queen. :3) I'm glad you liked it! Yeah, don't blame Mousey for the delay. That was all me! *is proud***

**So those are the reviews. This chapter is a solid 8,000 words so prepare yourself! Hope you like it! I'm proud of the conclusion! **

**~MoD**

**Chatper 47: Halloween: Part 3**

"Are you guys okay?" Samus asked not even a minute later as she started the car, her voice trailing out the open window.

"As okay as we'll ever be, dearest," Marth quipped with a nervous smile as he gripped the sides of the roof. Sheik and Ike also gave their affirmations, holding onto Marth's legs and each other's hands.

"Alright," Samus confirmed, starting to drive. As she picked up speed and the glass towers of the Convention Center approached, she turned to Zelda, who sat on Link's lap. "A Smart Car," she groaned. "A freaking Smart Car. You got us a Smart Car!"

"Hey, it was either that we could all share a bike," Zelda snapped. "We're carrying precious cargo, so keep your eyes on the road. Which way did the car go?"

Immediately upon Zelda's words, Samus swerved around a car in the middle of the road, bumping up against the curb for a short moment. The rooftop dwellers shouted but Samus kept the car- and them- in one piece. "Uh, straight down Holladay!" She told Zelda, boosting the car forward feverishly. "That's when I saw it, and it shouldn't be that hard to find."

"Well, we already lost a minute," Zelda reminded her as they caught a green light through 7th. "And I'm pretty sure Roy's somewhere in the car. We can't let them get away."

"Don't worry, Zel," Samus insisted. "It's morning rush hour traffic. As soon as he hits that bridge up there, he'll be in a spot of trouble." Raising her voice, she asked "How are you guys faring?"

"As good as I can under the circumstances!" Marth shouted back.

"Alright, can you keep an eye out for our car? It'll be the only one with a legendary blue hedgehog on the top of it, alright?"

"I think I can manage," Marth replied. "Don't worry about me, Sam, I can manage."

"Do worry about us, though!" Sheik insisted. "I'd prefer not to die by falling off a Smart Car."

"Got it!"

"Thanks, Samus!" Ike called.

"Sure, sure," Samus mumbled, out of earshot of anyone else as she stepped up the speed, passing Martin Luther King and the Center. "Can't believe I can't get this thing to go any faster than forty five. Shameful."

During her mumbling rant, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and without even looking up, she asked "What?"

Link spoke this time, deadpan. "There's no more road, Samus. It goes into a light rail station."

"I'm aware of that, Link," her response was equally as emotionless, even amid shocked shouts from those on the roof.

"So… what are you going to do?"

"What do you think I'm going to do?"

Link sighed, annoyed more than worried, and shouted "Keep your heads down, guys. Don't want you to get electrocuted."

"Whatever you say, boss man!" Ike replied. Samus narrowed her eyes and increased her speed up into the forties before she cleanly made her way along the tracks between the barely occupied, sparse station, the Smart Car barely squeaking through. Sheik grabbed Marth's leg as her slight frame was whisked around with each hit of a wooden track. She closed her eyes, trying to block out her surroundings, grasping Ike's hand and trying to intertwine her leg with his for further support, but it wasn't easy with her being toss around like-

A sharp shriek pierced the air immediately following a small, heart stopping collision. The car continued to move, but Sheik's breath became a razor in her throat as a dull, horrid pain coursed through her leg, which had just slammed against a metal timetable alongside the station, shocking her system for just enough time for her to let go of Ike and Marth and begin to fall backwards to the ground.

Time passed slower than usual as Ike called her name, throwing his left arm towards the girl in an effort to catch her. He grinned, keeping a grip on Marth's leg as they started to clear past the station under the bridge as he felt his hand wrap around one of Sheik's limbs. He started to pull her up as best as he could but felt a jolt run through him as she shrieked again, longer and more consistent.

"Ike, please stop!" Sheik pleaded from below him. He gulped, unsure of what to do with himself as he looked at the evident fear and pain in her eyes, not sure if he ever saw her as panicked as she was now. Freaked himself, he replied "I gotta pull you up, girl. I can't let you fall!"

"Bus!" Marth announced as they careened through a bus-only street passing the sports coliseum. Instinctively Ike pulled up on Sheik's leg, causing her to scream once more in evident pain as she was yanked up and on top of him; the space where she was before becoming occupied by another old bus. "Hang on," he told Sheik calmly, putting some strength into his tones.

"I will, Ike, I will," she responded, fighting back tears. Ike stroked her hand gently to comfort her, and she smiled on instinct. Marth interrupted the reverie with "We're going over the bridge down the middle. Be ready."

"What?" Ike shouted. "We can't do that. We're not going back on the tracks. There has to be another way."

The smart car blasted down Holladay towards the Steel Bridge, an old drawbridge with a large steel overhead frame that sported a light rail lane in its center. That lane was what Samus continued to steer into, despite Ike's protests.

Eventually, it was Zelda, from inside the car, who reached over Samus to steal the wheel from her and guide the car out from the middle lane and in to one of the law abiding sides of the street.

"What do you think you're doing?" Samus demanded, keeping an even tone, as Zelda began to steer for her.

"Keeping us alive," the princess hissed. "You're going to end up killing someone if you pull any more daredevil stunts."

"The car's going to get away from us!' Samus hissed.

"And so you're going to drive onto train tracks? I'd rather lose the car than lose a friend. Now slow down."

The response was a nearly silent growl and a speed shift from its max in the forties to the lower twenties as the car approached more suitable traffic in the single lane. Zelda released the wheel as the car steadied and allowed Samus to start driving again, ordering her "_Don't screw around again_. You got that."

Samus was surprised by the ferocity in Zelda's voice and figured it'd probably be a good idea to comply. "Pretty sure we lost him, though," she replied. "Now we're down Sonic and Roy. Fantastic."

"I dunno about Roy, but Sonic's smart, though, you have to hand him that," Link interjected as Samus took a soft left on Third as soon as she crossed the river. "Plus he's certainly awake. He could probably run back up to Seattle if needed."

"No need, guys," Marth shouted, "because I can see the car. And he's standing right next to it."

Samus sighed, scanning the area until she saw them. "Yep, just down there, by the red streetlight pole. Where are we, anyway?"

"Chinatown, I believe," Marth replied casually from atop the roof. Samus nodded out of his sight and pulled over the car right behind the Pilot, which seemed to have no harm done. Even Sonic stood against the car, leaning on it and bending over in evident exhaustion. She sighed once more and exited the car, which was more in less in decent shape. Marth laid face down spread against the car still, arms wrapped around the hood and legs spread out across the back where Ike was just starting to let him go and gingerly step down onto the ground with Sheik on his back, still shaking. As soon as they were down, Marth joined the others on the ground, only briefly taking in the scenery of red and yellow streetlights and many old, rundown buildings with Oriental decoration.

"Okay…" Words failed him. Zelda stood as steadily as she could, Link taking her arm. Sonic tried to maintain a smile for everyone even though he found it a struggle. Samus tried to maintain a leader like stance although Marth had a feeling that was long gone too. Ike sat on the ground, Sheik in his arms, trying to keep a stony look on her face but evidently writhing in pain.

"Alright, Sheik," he heard Ike whisper comfortingly. "I'm going to have to feel your ankle and see how bad the damage it. Just take a deep breath and feel free to do anything you need to if it makes anything better. You ready?"

Sheik took a deep breath and gave the best smirk she could. "Alright, I'm ready. Are you?"

He chuckled. "Hardly, but okay." Softly he placed a palm on her left ankle, his face twisting as her smirk faded into agonized cries as he felt around, not minding when she dug her hands into his arms as he examined the ankle. Finally, he stopped, allowing her to finally break into soft tears, muttering "Oh god that hurts, oh my god that hurts."

"Yep," he confirmed. "It's definitely broken."

"No kidding," Sheik replied, wrapping her arms around the mercenary and resting her head on his shoulder. Marth sighed as he observed the scene, turning towards Samus. "Well…" she stated in complete surrender, "that was fun."

To everyone's surprise, it was Ike who protested her statement. "Fun? No, no, no, Samus," he laughed darkly before shouting "This! All of this stopped being fun a long freaking time ago. It stopped being a cutesy little game all of us started to play because we were all idiots. Now it's just becoming reckless. Sheik's ankle is broken. You nearly _killed _us, we stole a car and someone stole ours and nearly ran over Sonic, and God only knows about Roy. This is not fun. This is dangerous!"

Samus wasn't even fazed by Ike's words, even if she knew they were true. Her face showed no expression and she made no reply, even as Zelda and Link sported disapproving glares. Sonic even added with a wry smile "When I said that it didn't really matter what we did because we were in trouble anyways, I didn't mean that it was okay to break the law. We still can't do that."

All she muttered was "Now that you've successfully tied me to the stake, shall we see if we can scrape our friend out of the car since we were so slow and getting to him?"

Sonic broke the tense reverie with "Well, for the record, I doubt I was in any trouble at all. I actually leapt on the car so I could track it down. The driver slowed down and eventually pulled over as soon as we got on the other side of the bridge when she realized it was all a misunderstanding."

"This isn't our car?" Samus barely mouthed the words.

"Oh? Well of course it is. It just wasn't stolen. I'm just surprised this girl knew how to drive."

"Girl?" Samus groaned, immediately deducing that the driver wasn't Roy.

"Eh, to my credit," a slight feminine voice replied through a rolled down front window, "I learned pretty young. You know, open spaces and all that."

"Is that?" Link started, unable to finish his thought.

"Nana?"

"Yeah, thanks. I can't believe she's here."

"No problem, Link. I can't believe I'm here either," Nana replied, opening the door and climbing out the Pilot. The fifteen year old girl still stood, dressed in her usual parka and jeans, amid her surprised peers. "So… hey, guys."

No one knew how to respond, so Nana spoke again, nervously laughing. "This is probably an obvious question, but… is everyone okay?"

"Obviously not," Link snapped.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she blushed. "Listen, I'm really sorry I confused you all. I just wasn't entirely sure what to do. I barely noticed anyone but Sonic, and when I did I went ahead and stopped."

"It's okay, Nana," Zelda replied soothingly. "You had no idea we were going to chase you with a Smart Car."

"You really chased after me in that?" the climber giggled. "I mean, I admire the effort but you would probably have been better off just running. Those things can be pretty lousy."

"We… probably should have re-evaluated that plan," Zelda chuckled.

"We probably should have re-evaluated our entire bleepin' lives," Marth quipped.

"Doesn't matter now," Link groaned. "We're all dead."

"Where have I heard that before?" Marth snapped.

"Okay, everyone," Sonic groaned, running a hand through his quills. "I'm trying to be as civil as I can but your griping and moaning is really getting on my last nerve for the very simple reason that _it is helping no one. _Do you all see that?"

Everyone rang silent as soon as Sonic finished. He chuckled and added "Well I didn't say none of you could talk. We still have some things to work out."

"Yes, exactly," Marth stated. "Okay, Nana, none of us can remember much at all. What can you remember?"

"Blah," Nana replied. "It's been fuzzy for me too. I took some Dramamine during one of the car rides; that much I know, so I've been sleeping in and out of the entire last… period of time."

"Okay, that's still some over us," he replied. "So what do you remember?"

"Well… it was night when I remember we were driving along the I-5, which I remember, but just not where exactly. I reckon it was during the later evening, just deducing."

"The five- that's the freeway that goes through Washington and down through Portland," Zelda confirmed. "Wow."

"Mmhmm," Nana replied. "Then I remember trick or treating through a neighborhood that was kind of run down, but all the people were nice and gave us a lot of candy. It was a really cool experience, and it made me think."

"Great! Now who was there?"

"I was gonna get to that, Link," Nana raised an eyebrow. "I remember everyone except Sonic… including Roy."

"Roy was there?" Sheik, now sitting against Ike, shot up, almost standing on her broken ankle. Ike sighed and pulled her back down towards him.

"Yep, Roy was there. Nice kid, as usual. He wasn't feeling good, though, and I was still trudging around like a zombie. Seeing as that wasn't good seeing as I was trying to portray a cross country runner, I volunteered to go back to the car with him, where we immediately fell asleep."

"Where was this neighborhood?" Samus asked.

"I… don't even remember the street names, honestly. Sorry."

"Well, it was early enough to be actively trick or treating. I'd estimate around nine or ten, around the time things went south," Zelda deduced. "Okay, what next, Nana?"

"Well I woke up in the car again. Roy was gone…" she sighed, a bit hesitant. "I don't remember how he left, I just remembered that my human pillow was gone and I woke up resting sideways on the cushion. I murmured a question about where Roy was, but you were too busy talking about some sort of prank to hear me."

"Prank?" Sheik asked. "Tell me it was a good one."

"Well," Nana chuckled. "It sounded good. I remember you guys saying 'he'll never see it coming' and 'it's gonna be the shock of his life' and 'we're gonna let him in on the fun.' I just drifted back asleep and then jolted back awake when I heard a thud, the trunk shut and then something trying to escape. It was just absolute madness, but by some force of earth I actually fell asleep again during it. Go figure."

"So, we kidnapped someone?" Ike asked. "That's… scary."

"No kidding," Zelda shuddered. "A bit too close for comfort."

"Five bucks says it was Peach," Samus quipped.

Nana shrugged. "Don't ask me. There was only one more thing I remembered, too. You all were getting out of the car at this park in the middle of Downtown called Waterfront Park. You told me I should get out too and join. I remember asking for a bit of time to get ready and recuperated. This time, Sonic was there, and you all looked the way you did before… this clusterfuzz." Glaring with amusement at the hedgehog, she finished "and I remember that because he told me 'Don't worry, sport. I'll kill you last.' Then he left, and I locked the doors and fell asleep again."

"Haha…" Sonic laughed nervously. "Guess it was just the Halloween in me. Sorry."

"Don't worry," Nana replied. "But next thing I remember was when I woke up alone. That sobered me up and I started to look around for you when eventually I met up with you guys here."

She smiled, kicking the ground slightly with her boots, and added "not to mention I put my normal clothes back on. My costume consisted of a headband, running shoes, a jersey and some shorts. Don't know what I was thinking, really, that's like the most revealing thing I've ever worn."

The area was silent as everyone began to think it over. Zelda, unsurprisingly, was the first to speak. "So, now we can add Waterfront Park, the fact that we've been out here since nine and did our trick or treating here, kidnapping someone and throwing him in the trunk and… well, you, to our list of clues."

Nana nodded. "What for?"

"Well… we lost Roy…" Zelda admitted. Nana blinked, astonished, barely being able to mouth "Are you serious?" Nearly intimidated, Zelda nodded.

Nana slapped her forehead, flustered. "How do you do that? Just… misplace someone? Does anyone remember last night at all?"

Silence prevailed again, a discomfort to Nana as she stood in the middle of a group waiting for an answer. "Well, if anything," she stated, "we should think this over on the road. Your guys' little car show has to have caught the attention of the police by now. Hop in, guys, I'm driving." To her surprise, no one argued with that. Triumphant, she climbed into the front seat once more, starting the car, looking through her rear view mirror as the others climbed into the back. Ike walked around and sat in the passenger's seat, Sheik in his arms still.

"Whoa!" she heard Link shout from the back seat. "Guys, take a look back here." Nana didn't bother to, calmly driving down Third avenue as the others in the backseats moved around the car.

"What is that?" Marth asked, curious. Sonic's eyes widened as he crawled over several seats and into the trunk where everyone was looking. He took a tuft of the blue fuzz in his hand, a sample of what was strewn all around the back, and placed it against his skin. It matched perfectly.

"That… would be my fur," Sonic confirmed, obviously on edge. He sat in the back of the car for a second, stunned, before he asked "Samus, this is going to sound extremely uncool, but I need to see your dress. Bring your leg over here?"

"Er… whatever it takes, I guess," she murmured as she stepped into the back. Sonic hesitated but extended out his claws, placing them in the middle of the tears in the dress. After a second, he retracted them, nearly collapsing into a pile amid his own fur.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" Zelda asked, concerned.

"You guys kidnapped me," he murmured, letting the concept roll around in his mind before speaking again.

"What?" Link shouted. Nana just stifled a chuckle from the front seat. "I had a feeling," she admitted.

Sonic stared at the roof, astonished. "I was the one you kidnapped. You guys got me into this mess!"

"Er…" Link found himself suddenly quite scared. "Yeah, uhm… sorry?"

To his astonishment, Sonic burst out laughing. Everyone blinked, confused, as he told them "I… don't know whether or not I should kill you or thank you."

"Thank us? We kidnapped you!"

"Yeah, well… it's not like you guys would be trying to kill me, at least I hope not. And, besides, this is a pretty crazy experience as it is. I haven't been this nauseatingly excited about anything in a while, honestly, so I suppose I can kill you later." And with that, Sonic stretched his arms out, trying to relax a bit.

"Well…" Link stumbled upon words. "You're welcome."

Sonic chuckled. "That's Portland for you, I guess." With that, he kicked his legs up and closed his eyes, everyone else deciding to settle in their own seats.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," Link muttered under his breath in disbelief. "The only thing in existence that could see being kidnapped as a good thing."

Zelda giggled, resting her head against his and taking pride in the fact that he relaxed as soon as she did. "I think without his… unusual optimism… we'd have given up a long time ago."

Link mused that as he heard Sonic singing a Michael Franti song quietly. "You're right, Zelda."

"As is the norm," she reminded him with a smile before singing with the hedgehog in the back, her voice smooth and melodious. "_Hey, hey, hey, no matter how bad life is today, there's just one thing I gotta say! I won't let another moment slip away_!"

The song started to spread like wildfire- every time the chorus repeated, at least one more person had joined in. Nana smiled as everyone started to find some cheer in the song, and became the last to sing "_Hey, hey, hey, no matter how bad life is today, there's just one thing I gotta say! I won't let another moment slip away!"_

"Keep singing!" Sonic directed everyone before joining in once more, enjoying the blend of everyone's different voices, each with voices that seemed to reflect their personalities. It was a motley crew of voices and a motley crew of people. Quite an adventure and even if he'd probably be dead for the rest of eternity when Stoelhart found out, he was glad to have taken it.

**~MoD (oh my god guys we're getting close to the end!)~**

Eventually, the singing would subside and as the sun appeared to be there to say, Zelda looked at her phone, which read that it was 7:24 in the morning. Time was slipping away, so she asked Nana "Where exactly are we heading?"

"Well, the only place I remember was Waterfront Park, so it's as good a place to start as any," was the reply. "We might find something useful there that would lead us to Roy."

"Good enough," Zelda replied, relaxing into her seat again.

"Alrighty, then," Nana confirmed, looking to her right at the occupants of the front seat for the briefest of moments. "Haha, you're a great guy, Ike," she told him with a smile. "Looking after her like that. I like it."

"Meh… he's mine…" Sheik mumbled, somewhat drifted.

"By all means, he's all yours!" Nana giggled, focusing on the road. Ike noticed her skill and said "You're a good driver, you know? I can't even drive as well as you do."

"Ah, well," she blushed. "Country roads and watchful big brothers. That will teach you anything quick as a whip. Frankly I'm surprised I can see over the steering wheel."

"Eh?" Sheik rejoined the conversation. "You're not that short, Nan. I mean you're up to my shoulder and that's a feat."

Nana's smile stretched up to her bright red ears as she took a right on Salmon. "Well… thank you guys."

"Oh, no problem," Sheik mumbled with a kindly smile, which was shattered by another painful grimace. She swore and clutched Ike's arm again. Nana spared a blink's worth of a glance at the ninja and asked "Is it bad?"

"Oh my gosh, it is not good," Sheik mumbled.

"Okay," Nana replied. "Ike, look in the glove box. I'm pretty sure there should be some Dramamine in there. Give her a couple. It'll knock her out so hard she wouldn't feel an earthquake if it knocked a house on her."

"If you insist," Ike replied without batting an eyelash, gingerly opening the glove box so as not to move Sheik's ankle once more. He rummaged through and grabbed the box of Dramamine, opening it gingerly and pulling out a foil wrapper which would hold the pills. As he looked through them for them he came to an unnerving conclusion. "There's none left."

Nana blinked, pulling over just before the river into a snug fifteen minute parking space. "You're kidding me. That's not good."

Ike caught on. "Okay, did anyone at all take any Dramamine tonight?"

"I don't know!" Link replied, sending the car into a half-minute's worth of silence. Sheik broke it by asking "So… this Dramamine stuff… what's it do?"

"Well, it's supposed to cure motion sickness, but it makes one incredibly sleepy."

"How much would one pill knock you out for?" Sheik continued.

"One pill would get you down for about twelve hours."

"Okay, so… how many pills did we have left?"

"We were down to our last two."

"Alright…" Sheik could be heard doing some mental math, muttering numbers under her breath. "So, if we were knocked out for a couple of hours and there was eight of us, it'd take about a couple or so pills, right?"

"Around that much," Samus confirmed, "but how do you split two pills among eight of us?"

"You got me there…" Sheik replied, thinking again. "But what if it stemmed from a common source?"

"You lost me," Link replied.

"Well… we're at the park," Sheik insisted. "Let's get out and look around; there has to be something that could tip us off to Roy."

"Well, you're not going anywhere," Ike told her, giving her a knowing smile. "We could send Sonic out- he can cover the park faster than any of us."

Sonic poked his head up. "That I can. You stay here, heroic albeit injured miss. I'll have this park scoped out faster than you can finish making a bet on how fast I can do it."

Link swerved his head around to face the hedgehog in surprise. "How did you know?"

Sonic shrugged. "Trust me, I'm a more popular gambling arena than tournament poker. Either way, I'll be back in a bit. This park looks to cover the downtown area, so you'll need my speed."

Nana pressed a button that popped open the trunk. "Well, good luck Soni- and he's gone already. Showoff," she added with an amused smile as she rested her chin on the steering wheel.

Sheik took a look behind her at the occupants of the car. Samus still sat upright, alert as ever, even with Marth gently tracing circles and lines over her knuckles with his thumb. The swordfighter looked the most at ease, even if it was to alleviate the nerves of the girl next to him. Zelda lay against Link, who ran a hand gently through her remaining hair. She seemed evidently uncomfortable with Link's actions, but instead of ceasing, Link just smiled and planted a short kiss on her cheek, instantly soothing her.

Sheik saw that Nana had taken a discreet look at her passengers, taking evident happiness in their interactions. Sheik herself smiled and reached over to gently ruffle the youngest girl's short brown hair. Nana giggled for a brief moment but said nothing more.

"I suppose it doesn't much matter anymore," Zelda filled the silence once more, "but I still question to see how the Dramamine would have taken our memory like that.

"Well… you're likely to be disoriented after it wears off," Nana offered. "But yes, I doubt we'll have a definitive answer, and I also agree that it doesn't really matter. We're here now, we're probably in trouble, we learned a lesson and odds are, Roy's okay." She turned back towards the steering wheel, and only Sheik could quietly hear her mutter "I hope." And only Sheik could read the distraught concern in her eyes. She wasn't sure what to say, so she settled with nothing.

It was at that moment that Sonic pulled up to the side of the car, knocking on Marth's door. Marth opened it and Sonic immediately leapt in. "Get the hell out of here, now," he ordered.

"What do you mean?" Nana asked.

"_Move_!" Sonic ordered, panicked. Nana reacted instantly, pounding her foot on the pedal. The car jerked, throwing everyone around. Sheik shouted in pain again, screaming "Tell me what the heck is going on, you neon rat!"

Seated directly between Samus and Marth, he replied "Fans. Like, a crowd of them. Over on the other side of the bridge."

Nana got the car going, turning away from the adjacent Hawthorne Bridge. "What are they doing here?"

"I have no clue," Sonic breathed, tense. "But they all freaked as soon as they saw me run in, like they were expecting me, but not just in such an epic entrance."

"So why do we need to run?" Samus demanded, shoving Sonic off of her lap.

"They're heading this way. They expect more of us, and they figured they had to follow me to get there."

"Why are they expecting so many of us?" Link mused out loud.

"I don't know what's going on!" Sonic replied. "I don't know any of what's going on!"

Suddenly, Nana pulled the car to a complete stop, despite being in the middle of Naito Parkway along the river. She swiveled towards Sonic and, facing him dead on, ordered "You. Chill out. You're freaking everybody out over nothing."

"Nana, move!" Samus told her.

"They're not going to find us in this car," Nana insisted. "It's not like they were looking for a Honda Pilot."

"No, I mean you're in the middle of a busy road," Samus corrected.

"Give me just a second!" Nana insisted. "We are not going anywhere until we can get our wits together. Last time we acted stupid, I ended up speeding down a city road in our car and you jacked a Smart Car to catch me. We need to think of what the hell we're doing instead of just doing stupid things. You got that?"

A car honked behind her, and the teens could hear a cry of "Move it, buster!" Nana leaned out the window and shouted "Shut up and wait a moment, pal!" The same voice hurled an obscenity at her, and she retaliated with an obscene gesture. Almost unanimously, the passengers of the Pilot blinked, but Nana turned back towards them, leaning on her seat. "Now what do we know about Roy and here?"

"That Roy was with us until we kidnapped Sonic," Link offered, staring at the roof.

"And that we were here since at least the beginning of the evening, in time to trick or treat," Zelda added.

"Yes, and between trick or treating and kidnapping Sonic, we lost Roy," Nana told them.

"Well why didn't we try and find Roy?" Link asked. "Instead we went and kidnapped Sonic. I'd think we'd be worried about Roy's wellbeing!"

"Well, what was I doing here in the first place?" Sonic pointed out. "I mean, besides loving it, of course."

"Maybe it's connected to the big group of fans awaiting us down by the river," Marth interjected.

"What if…" Ike pieced it together at the same time that the teens started to gasp in realization.

"We're supposed to be here!" Sheik completed in amazed frustration, slamming her fist on the dashboard. Nana snapped her fingers and said "Exactly!" before she started the car up along Naito Parkway, gaining speed and listening to the honking as it ceased.

"We're not away from everyone else after all!" Samus clarified. "We're here for a reason, and so is Roy."

"Roy, who was feeling sick. Maybe he's at a hospital," Sonic quipped, laid back while everyone else gripped the armrests as Nana hit the forties.

"No, I know exactly where he is, guys," Nana stated. "I figured it out. Trust me!"

She rolled down all the windows, giggling in excitement. A chill breeze filled the car, blowing through Samus' hair and cooling everyone. "What are you doing, Nana?" Samus laughed as her hair caught in her eye.

"Feel that! That is freedom, and that is victory! We're heading home, guys!" Nana declared, her own hair swooping around her as the radio blared a triumphant anthem for them.

"All the way back to the mansion?" Marth asked.

"Nope! Just trust me!" Nana shouted as she took the ramp to the Steel Bridge. Marth stared out the window at Portland's skyline, a smile crossing his face as he allowed himself to believe that maybe, just maybe, they'd get out of this in overall good shape. He felt Samus' hair float against his eyes and smiled. Taking her hand, he told her "What did I tell you? We got out of this a-ok."

"We might have," she corrected him, but he knew by the content smile that radiated her face that she firmly believed that they were out of the woods at last. He ran his hands through the air her hair had scattered in, giving her an accomplished smile.

Nana turned back onto Holladay as soon as she could once across the bridge. "Almost there, guys!" she announced. The crew stared out the window, intent and suspenseful. As an afterthought, she added "Also, if any of you have a driver's license, you were our lovely drivers today. I actually only have a permit up in Washington, so I shouldn't even be doing this."

"Got it," Zelda confirmed.

"Thanks," Nana grinned, pulling into a parking space along Ninth just south of Holladay. "Get out, guys," she ordered. Everyone started to pour out of Marth's side of the car, and Ike carried Sheik out carefully.

As they started to run after Nana across the street, Sheik burst out laughing. Ike noticed, only raising his eyebrow. She grinned and admitted "It's entirely cheesy, but I found this funny, cause I'm the Bride, and you're carrying me like I'm your bride and we're running into the threshold or whatever."

Ike laughed. "That's actually really funny!" he admitted as they came to a crosswalk, where he planted a kiss on the top of her head. The streetlight turned, and he began to run after the others. "This'll do just finely, though, for running into."

Samus was the first to recognize where they were running to. "No way!" she shouted. Marth noticed and started to laugh loudly, wrapping his arm around her and catching her in an impromptu dance. She began to giggle as they danced across the sidewalk. Link just grinned, and Zelda felt tears of relief come to her eyes. Sheik and Ike exchanged knowing grins, laughing. Sonic found his turtle shell still along the sidewalk where it landed, and picked it up with a smile. Soon enough, everyone stood in front of the Doubletree Hotel, all of them over the moon.

**This is practically a fourth chapter but I'm not going to tack on even more chapters. Besides, I'd throw off Mouse's 50 ratio. :D ~MoD (Mousenote: thanks man. bXxd)**

"I can't believe it!" Sonic grinned. "We really did score a nice hotel!"

"I can't believe it!" Samus shouted amid a giggle. "I can't believe he was here, and we walked in front of it! How did you know, Nana?"

"I just connected the dots!" Nana insisted. "I guess I'm smart like that!"

"Totally!" Link nodded, lifting the young girl on top of his shoulders. She started to shriek happily, her hair mussing up and her jacket lifting up to just above her stomach as the group paraded in.

"_Hey, hey, hey_!" Sonic started to sing loudly, disregarding the hotel staff. The disheveled crew followed him through another round of Michael Franti. "_No matter how bad life is today, there's just one thing I gotta say, I won't let another moment slip away_!"

"_The dog days are over_!" Zelda declared happily, interrupting the flow of the song and causing a concierge to glare at the girl with horrid looking hair and a bloody blue jumpsuit. Not even fazed, the rest of the crew cut off the repeat of the previous chorus, to join in with a scattered "_The dog days are done! The horses are coming, so you better run_!"

And that's how they entered the hotel, loudly singing amid their tattered, unfitting clothes and Halloween costumes until they reached the center of the lobby, where they faced a group of their fellows who were walking towards them.

Lucario, of all people, led the way with a knowing smile. "And I thought I knew how to celebrate a good Halloween." The smashers nodded in acknowledgment; Lucario always liked to lead some sort of festivity through the holiday. One of the few times he seemed to have any fun, and Samus found herself a bit regretful that she couldn't remember his behavior this year. "You all seemed to have… enjoyed yourself."

"Uh, I guess?" Link replied, setting Nana on the ground with a goofy smile on her face as she straightened her jacket back over her exposed skin. "I don't remember much of it!"

To her surprise, Lucario laughed loudly. "You must quite literally be out of your minds!" he declared as he shook her hand. Snake walked up next from the small group, cracking a grin of his own. "You're a mess," he declared.

"Come on," Ike responded. "You never had any moments like this as a young man?"

"Eh…" Snake responded slowly, stroking his beard. "Maybe. Maybe."

Ike laughed loudly, carefully clapping the soldier on his shoulder. Snake just grinned, knowing Ike had him beat on that argument.

Finally, the crew found themselves face to face with the revered Doctor Oliver Stoelhart, who eyed them with an unflinching glare. None of them seemed intimidated, having accepted their fate.

"We know," Marth declared with a smile. "We're dead. And we don't care. Not anymore."

Stoelhart raised an eyebrow. "Maybe not that dead. I think Samus may have some problem with maintaining her driver's license for the next year or two, but I think you guys…" he stopped for a second, putting a hand over his mouth. Eventually, he let go while everyone stood around, alienated, before grinning and concluding "I think you've suffered enough. At least Link here has." He finally let out a short laugh.

Samus' jaw dropped. "Wait, you knew we were out?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure what happened, but you were out much later than you should have been, that much I know. Like, about six or seven hours late. I'm impressed with how you were able to smuggle the hedgehog out without me knowing, but yes, normally you'd be in a huge amount of trouble."

"Wait…" Zelda asked. "Why didn't you call us or anything?"

"Well, I don't think you would have learned your lesson if I just called you guys back to the hotel and punished you here. At least, not as well as you did." He let out another laugh and added "I probably should have! I had no idea you would have stolen a car!"

"A Smart Car," Samus corrected.

"I know, a Smart Car!" he added. "Next time, try jacking a Ferrari. They're much better. And then," he added with a wink, "bring it back. I won't tell anyone."

The crew laughed their response. Stoelhart grinned and said "Well, I might have to answer some phone calls about that, but I'll spare you on account of heroics, Samus. Just this once."

"Thanks, Doc," Samus grinned.

"Overall," Stoelhart concluded, "You got yourself into this mess, and you successfully got yourselves out of it." The teens stated their scattered agreement as they heard one more person walk up. Stoelhart slyly stepped out of the way and let the redhead take a good look at his friends.

"There you are," he chuckled, still in his pajamas. "You dorks. Where have you been?"

"Roy!" Samus shouted as they all ran towards their friend, grabbing him in a group hug that even Ike and Sheik were able to finagle their way into. Only Nana stood away, watching them shyly from a distance as even Sonic joined the hug.

"Careful!" he half-joked. "I have vomit breath. You don't want to experience any of that."

"I don't even care!" Zelda insisted.

"Wow," Roy added. "You must have gone through hell. What was that all about?"

"We spent hours trying to find you!" Samus told him.

"But… I was here!"

Everyone else laughed as Sonic told him "It's a long story. Trust me."

"Eh," Roy chuckled as the hug broke. "Well, for another time then."

"I concur," Stoelhart said. "For the reason that we have about an hour and a half until we need to be on stage for the crowds."

"What?" The wayward teens gasped in perfect unison.

"Stage?" Sonic added.

"Yep. Seeing as you can't remember much of… anything, you guys are here because there's a big meet and greet down at Waterfront Park. We're paying a promotional visit to nearby cities for our dear, beloved Smash Brothers Stadium."

"Oh…" Sonic realized. "Well… I, uh, got the crowd warmed up, I guess."

Stoelhart just laughed. "I've got to hear about this little adventure of yours sometime this evening. Maybe near the fireplace or something. Roast some marshmallows, tell some tall tales that aren't as tall as one would think. I notice we do that a lot, live tall tales and bring them down to size. Don't you think?"

"Poetic, Doc," Marth confirmed. Nana nodded with a smile.

"Thanks, I try," Stoelhart nodded with a smile before clapping. "Anyway, let's get you nuts out of these clothes and into ones of your own _gender_, to start with."

"Agh," Link threw his hands in the air dramatically. "You guys are never going to let me forget this, are you?"

Roy laughed. "You look ridiculous," he confirmed.

"Frankly, Link, I can't see that happening," Stoelhart confirmed, clapping the kid on the back. "Ike, let me see Sheik. Probably needs to head to a hospital to see what we can do about that nasty looking ankle. Broken?"

"Like you wouldn't believe, Doc," Sheik confirmed. "Hurts like a son of a Gerudo."

"Don't let Ganondorf catch you saying that," Ike cracked.

"Dude, I _try _to let Ganondorf catch me saying things like that," Sheik replied without missing a beat, rubbing his shoulder gently before Ike relinquished her to Stoelhart. "I swear," she added, frowning, "I'm not liking all these men carrying me around all over the place." Ike smiled sadly, because he knew she meant it, but waved gently at her before he started to bound after the others, barely catching Link say "I'm keeping this shirt" in time to get a laugh from it.

Roy wasn't with them just yet. He stole a glance at the quiet young woman that stood towards the edge of the room, trying to keep her eyes away from him. Quietly, he walked over to her, gave her a winning smile, and asked "So, it's not every day Link carries in someone in on their shoulders like a proud older brother. I imagine you were a big help. "

"Yeah, well," Nana blushed slightly, managing to keep eye contact. "I suppose I was, a little."

"Oh really?" Roy responded. "I'll have to ask the others if this is true."

"Well… they won't be as humble about if I was a help or not," she admitted slyly. The two looked at each other before Nana broke down and hugged the redhead. "I'm glad you're okay," she mumbled into his chest as she took satisfaction from the fact that he returned the hug. He simply smiled kindly and escorted her upstairs to the others, accepting the silence between them in stride. Nana was like that.

Snake and Lucario stood at in the hall, looking as casual as a forty year old man and a five-foot tall talking jackal could look. "Crazy kids," Snake confirmed, and Lucario knew that Snake meant in endearingly.

"Perhaps," Lucario replied. "But some incredibly intelligent, thoughtful ones as well. I assure you, Snake, that they'll do well for themselves."

"I have no doubt," Snake replied. Lucario nodded with just the faintest hint of a smile before he departed the room as well. His thoughts were rather abuzz, particularly about the situation. No one ever expected it, but he liked to pull a trick every Halloween. Most of the time they were pretty small, but not this year. Perhaps messing with the short term memories of the outgoing teens was a pretty drastic prank, and he felt a twinge of guilt about it, but it didn't last long as he realized that maybe, just maybe, he gave them just the challenge they needed to make things a little better for them.

Sometimes, things just had a funny way of balancing out.

**~MoD- Prologue Time~**

The group of teens gathered in a large communal room, near the fireplace Dr. Stoelhart told them about previously. They were all spread around the room, on different finely made chairs and couches, exhausted, tired and content. Sheik had been released from the hospital soon enough, leg in an awkward cast. Ike was the first to say "Well, all's well that ends well, right?"

"That's such a cliché statement, "Sheik quipped. "You literally hear that on TV every time something like this happens. And this is, to my recollection, not a TV show."

Everyone shared a quiet laugh as they relaxed into their chairs. "Either way," Samus concluded "We're not dead, which is awesome. I guess Dr. Stoelhart is a pretty cool guy after all."

"I guess I am," said doctor replied back, coming in with a platter of mugs filled with hot cocoa and a bag of marshmallows, balancing the tray on one hand with expert precision. "Anyway, you guys did as good a job as you could have under the circumstances. Way to soldier on, crew."

"Thanks," Link replied, waiting until Stoelhart set the tray on the table before eagerly snatching his cup up and tearing open the marshmallows, excited. "It's just nice to be in a man's clothes."

"Just as nice as it is to feel my legs again," Zelda replied, donned in a silk shirt and a smooth purple skirt and a smile.

"It's nice just to feel clothed again," Samus replied, wearing baggy jeans and a camo t-shirt. "I'm never wearing a dress again. I'll get married in skinny jeans."

Marth burst out laughing. "I could see that happening. Although, I'll admit it. You don't look half bad in a dress."

"Half bad? Gee, thanks, I'm convinced," Samus smirked.

Marth laughed again. "Well, I wasn't sure what to expect!"

Sonic grabbed his mug and took a soft sip. "I have to say, getting kidnapped isn't as bad as they say it is."

"Oh, yes it is," Zelda glared at the hedgehog.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Sonic blanched. "I guess I just got lucky. You guys are pretty neat, even if a bit grouchy."

"Well, thank you," Roy raised an eyebrow, not drinking anything as to not upset his stomach. Sonic chuckled and added "Well, you're pretty cool, too, from what I can tell."

Nana had already finished half of her drink, wiping her mouth in content. "Ah, tastes like a winter back home. I love it."

The conversation was interrupted by a sharp gasp from Zelda, who had her phone out in shock. Marth glanced over at her and asked "What's wrong?"

"My gosh," she replied, face blanched. "I found some pictures on here… kind of shed a light on what happened last night."

"How bad?" Ike asked within a moment's notice.

"Come over here and find out," Zelda's reactions were halfway between horror and glee as she laughed, eyes portraying shock.

"Bring it over here, sweetie," Sheik told her. "I'm not gonna walk over there." Instantly, everyone crowded around Sheik, eager to see. "I'm going to regret this," Stoelhart, the last to wander over, added in amused dismay, "but I just have to see what happened."

"Okay," Zelda told her. "But, we have to promise each other. We were all complete idiots. Doing idiotic stuff. We have to promise that we won't treat each other that we won't treat each other differently no matter what. Got that?"

"You guys kidnapped me," Sonic laughed, "and I don't really care. Seeing you guys acting like morons won't really faze me." The others nodded their general agreement.

"Also, we delete them when we're done. Got that?" Zelda added.

"Well, unless we find a good zinger," Link retorted. Zelda smirked and punched him in the arm. "Whatever, Link," she smirked. "Let's just take a look. Three, two, one…"

And thus, the first picture came up. Everyone gasped, and it was Stoelhart who mumbled "What in the hell?"

**A/N Your imaginations are the best tool to figure out what happened already. So the ending is up to your own devices. :D**

**You know, it's right around this time that I realize that I'm not writing a fic for Smash Brothers fandom right now. I'm writing for the fandom of The Game. It's an odd idea, but it works. I wrote a piece where I took my spin on Mousey's foundations. I swayed a bit towards potential pairings. Did things that would be considered ridiculous. Even added a couple of practical OCs in Sonic and Nana and gave them starring roles. And all in all, I'm glad I did it. It wasn't even too much to impress. This was just a fun piece to write, and all I had in mind was finishing it and finishing it well, and hopefully to make a few people laugh. Sort of a writing nirvana, so to speak.**

**So, thanks, Mousey. I'm glad I was able to contribute to one of my favorite fandoms. I hope you guys enjoyed this as well. :) You've been a grand audience.**

**Still owning nothing, regretting nothing and letting them forget nothing.**

**~MoD, signing off.**

**xXx**

**Mouse here again: GIVE THE POOR BOY A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE! I think he wrote this entire last chapter in the span of a few days. XD And it was epic, was it not? AAAH! It was epic. **

**I left Ollie's 'hell' in there because he's cussed before, so it's all okay (don't believe me? He did. Maybe twice, even). I probably missed some stuff…LEAVE ME ALONE. I try really hard not to curse! It's just a personal thing. X_x**

**Ah man, it was nice having a break (thank you again MoD! :D), but it's business as usual again. I'm going to try and wrangle MoD into replying to any more fan questions you'd like to ask him, but the chapters will be back up and running as per the usual. I'm going to try and squeeze in a Ganondorf-fail chapter that I've been sitting on for a month in-between here and Christmas, and then…it's Christmas (yup, yup). So…Yeah. **

**IT WAS SO GOOD! Review and thank him for doing such a good job!**


	48. Chapter 48: Black Lace

**Oh my gosh it's been awhile, hasn't it? I've been sitting on this chapter for a looong time….**

**Anyway, _MessengerOfDreams_ is on Christmas break, so he's going to stick his closing remarks when he gets back (which should be either the next chapter or chapter 50—stay tuned for those). In the meantime, I'll respond to the lovely people who still talked to me even though I didn't write the last three chapters. XD**

**Thanks to _RaymondTHEspriter_; Famouse just became my new favorite word. XD The arc is, right now, set to involve a megaphone, bacon, and a coach bus. Not sayin' any more. ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; *0* Thank you so much for the fav! It means a lot, coming from you. Thank you for the fanart idea. :) If you're bored, type 'let it snow' into google. It's pretty sweet. ~ Thanks to _redhazeKJ_; I don't know if you remember your ideas on Oliver's back-story, but . . . um….two of them may have been right on. X_x Anyway, I have to remember to look for your story. I really haven't been on fanfiction in awhile… ~ Thanks to newcomer _Genesis of Ginova_; Don't know if you made it this far yet, but thanks for reading! ~ Thanks to _Jenakin Ramsobi_; I think may have actually given me credit for writing chapter 46. That was all MoD, not me, unfortunately (as if I could be that epic). ~ Thanks to_ AcolypeOfAzura_; Don't you dare mock my mad censoring skills! XD OH my gosh I wish I had seen your review before I started writing this thing: a kitten in Ganondorf's bed would've been the most epic thing in the world. *files idea away* ~ And thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; It's not so much a Ganondorf fail as it is a Ganondorf-facepalm-moment-of-justice. I don't know. You'll have to read and see. **

**To all you people who made snarky (that's a word, isn't it?) comments about how slow the updates have been: I'm trying really hard to get the Christmas chapter actually out on Christmas! Please show some mercy! X_x**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SSBB/SSBM, the wii, Twlight Princess, Twilight, Smosh (if you're ever really bored, look these guys up on youtube), or Rick Ashley (rick roll'd!)**

**Anyway, this chapter was basically supposed to show how Ganondorf has his moments where he's not being a complete jerk, but then Link's cross-dressing was too good for somebody to pass up. XD I wrote the majority of the chapter without actually deciding who did it, so I hope it blends okay…**

**Anyway, please read, enjoy, and review! :) I hope it's not too much of a change coming back to my fluff after MoD's epicness. **

**Chapter 48: Black Lace **

It had been a surprisingly quiet month in the Brawl stadium. It was mid-December, and things had been rather dull since the whole Halloween incident, although Dr. Stoelhart kept hinting that he had something big and ominous planned for the new year. The most exciting event since then had been Quincy winning his first tournament. The second most exciting event was probably Marth finally beating Twilight Princess, which caused Ganondorf and Link to briefly unite against him. The brawl had ended with a bloody nose and a black eye, although Ganondorf claimed that his nose had been bleeding before the fight. Other than that, nothing remarkable had occurred, which was unusual.

This day was not shaping up to be anything spectacular either, although the promise of Christmas was just around the corner. It was snowing, but it was wet, slushy stuff that nobody wanted to play in. The brawlers had scattered around the stadium, mostly minding their own business and being bored.

"Here's something I can honestly say I've never seen before," Sheik said dryly as she hobbled into the rec room to see Ganondorf, of all people, lying across the couch, holding a wiimote in his hand. She limped up behind the back of the couch, favoring her broken ankle—which was still in a soft cast—and expecting to see Ganondorf glaring at her the minute they could make eye contact. She wasn't disappointed. "I thought you refused to play video games, let alone your own," she sighed, leaning against the back of the couch to take the weight off of her foot.

Ganondorf didn't say anything; he just continued wiggling the joystick. On screen, the little Link was running in circles, waving the sword around in a frantic sort of way. Sheik managed to gather that Marth had given Twilight Princess up after he had beaten it to anybody who wanted to play it, but she never thought that Ganondorf would take him up on the offer.

She eased herself into a more comfortable position, taking her weight completely off of her broken ankle and flipping the end of her scarf over her shoulder so it was outside of Ganondorf's immediate grabbing range (you never knew), and settled down to watch curiously. "Are you actually following the plot?"

"Does it look as if I'm following the plot?" Ganondorf asked as he made the little green-clad Link climb up on top of a building and start hacking at the barrels up there, looking for rupees. "The plot, need I remind you, ends with me dying at the hands of a little boy because I couldn't beat him in a sword fight despite having all of the advantages on my side."

"So why are you playing?" Sheik asked, holding her hands out and splaying her fingers to examine the frayed wrappings around her knuckles. To be honest, she was only talking with him because she had nothing better to do. She had tried to find Ike, but learned that he was in the gym, and the physical-therapist had forbidden her from even setting foot in that room.

"To be honest, I just like making him jump off of tall things." Ganondorf savagely jabbed the joystick forward, and the little Hylian on the screen plummeted off of the top of a very tall building and thudded into the ground.

Sheik resisted the urge to facepalm. "Woooow…"

"If you had the opportunity to control me in some sort of humiliating game, wouldn't you?" Ganondorf asked patronizingly, flinging the cyber-Link off of another building and smirking as it was immediately bludgeoned with a monster's club.

"I don't think I would," Sheik mumbled, feeling sort of ill as she watched the beating continue, Ganondorf not even raising Link's sword to try and ward it off. "There's just something…wrong about it."

"And heaven forbid I do something _wrong_," Ganondorf laughed, and then looked up at her curiously. In a tone that could almost be described as gentle—or at least gentler—he said, "It's not like I'm making you watch. Surely you could find something else to do."

Sheik blinked.

Ganondorf restarted the game (the Link on the screen had long since died), and cursed when he realized that he had to start much farther back than he wanted to. As he wandered through the forest, he offered offhandedly, "What ties do you have with the elf-boy anyway? As far as I can tell, you yourself have never been romantically inclined."

Sheik pulled a face. "Unlike Zelda, I'm not into blondes."

"But you're into redheads?"

Sheik vehemently wished that her ankle wasn't broken so that she could kick him. "Ew. As if I'd even consider it."

"As if I'd be interested if you did," Ganondorf replied, equally disgusted by the idea. "I was talking about the Fire Emblem boy."

"Oh. Roy."

"Yes. Roy," Ganondorf mimicked.

Sheik scowled. "Maybe there was something there, but it's gone. He's just a friend now. I'm allowed to have friends."

"I never suggested otherwise. He seems awfully cozy with the ice-climber lately anyway, so all's well that ends well, unfortunately," Ganondorf sighed, pressing various buttons that caused the screen-Link to whirl around in a ridiculous-looking circle, slashing at grass. "You know, I never understood why rupees come out of the grass like that. If it was really that easy, I never would have had to steal anything—I would've just become a gardener."

Shrik smirked, despite herself. Ganondorf, she had to admit, could make decent company in a pinch, especially when he was as bored as she was. "Wait, Roy's with the ice-climber? Which one?"

"Take a wild guess. He's as straight as they come. I don't think they're actually 'with' one another, so don't jump to conclusions."

"Nana?" Sheik scratched her head, trying to remember if Roy had ever seemed overly friendly to her. She combed through the Halloween events, looking for hints, but honestly her thoughts at the time had been too fuzzy and caught up in a man with blue-hair to be too worried about the at-the-time missing redhead. "Huh, who knew? Good for him, I guess."

"You sound upset."

"You don't even know what the word means," Sheik ran a hand through her hair. "But no, I'm not. Sort of relieved, actually. It'd be awkward going into Christmas with him and Ike vying for attention."

"Spoken like a tactician," Ganondorf droned, climbing sim-Link up onto another building and making him jump off again. "You're more heartless than I give you credit for."

Any sense of comradeship Sheik had been feeling for Ganondorf disappeared immediately, and she

had a scathing retort on her tongue, but she didn't get a chance to say it, because at that very moment the real Link dashed into the rec room, vaulted over the sofa with a fierce battle cry, and landed on Ganondorf's chest.

Ganondorf, obviously, was not pleased, and smacked Link off of the couch.

Sheik regarded Link—who for whatever reason was lacking a shirt—coolly and sighed. "Oh, this is going to be a good one."

Link jackknifed to his feet, eyes flashing as he rubbed at a rug burn on his bare shoulder. He opened his mouth to say something inappropriate, and then caught sight of Ganondorf's face and wisely shut up to try again.

After a few tries, he finally jabbed a finger in Ganondorf's direction and said, "_You_ are not Marth."

Ganondorf snorted, and paused the wii game. "You confused _me_ for the scrawny princeling?" he chuckled. "That's worse than pathetic. …Be a good little hero and move out of the way. I can't see the screen."

"Surely you can wait to kill me for a few minutes," Link snapped, running a hand through his hair. "You know that's sick, what you're doing on the game. Do either of you know where Marth is? I need to kill him."

"As much as I would love to send you off on a witch hunt that's sure to be violent and entertaining, I don't know where he is," Ganondorf said morosely.

"What's up with Marth?" Sheik asked wearily. "Does it have to do with why you're walking around without a shirt on?"

"And that's another thing," the Hylian snapped, rounding on her. "Why are _you_ hanging out with Ganondork, king of darkness? I thought you were on my side."

"I'm not hanging out," Sheik said defensively. "I'm talking. Ike was in the gym and I can't work out, and Zelda's off doing something else and Samus and the others are nowhere to be found, so there was nobody else to talk to. Just because you're convinced you can't have a civil conversation with him doesn't…"

"Yeah, you can't," Link said vehemently, shaking his hair out of his face. "I'll leave you two to it; I need to kill Marth, preferably with a blunt object so he'll suffer. Like a cheese grater."

"Why?" Sheik asked again, bracing herself for the flash of pain as she put a little weight onto her broken ankle and hobbled away from the couch, leaving Ganondorf to his psychotic video game to follow Link down the hallway.

"Because," Link hissed as he reached into the pocket of his jeans. "The jerk snuck into my room last night and took all of my shirts and replaced every single one with one of _these_." With a flourish, he pulled out a lacy, black brassiere and held it at arm's length with two fingers like he was concerned it would bite him.

Sheik started to laugh at the glorious joke referring to Link's brief stint of cross-dressing last October, but then paused and pointed at the bra. Her voice was icy as she growled, "Is that _mine?_"

"I don't—what?" Link took a reflexive step backwards when he caught sight of Sheik's murderous face. "I don't know! How the heck would I know?"

"Look, it's mine, so give it back," Sheik snarled. "Why did you pick _this_ one to carry around anyway?" She made a snatch for the undergarment, and he handed it off to her, and then crossed his arms defensively, just in case she decided to hit him.

"Black lace?" he couldn't help asking. "Really? I thought you were more of a—"

She smacked him then. "More of a what?"

He sidestepped out of arm's reach and rubbed at the second red mark on his shoulder. "…Tomboy," he completed miserably. "I was going to say tomboy."

Sheik rolled her eyes and quickly tucked the bra out of sight in one of her sweater pockets. "Sure you were."

"I was!" Link protested as two figures sprinted around a corner and came to a halt in front of him and Sheik.

"'Sup?" Ike asked, slowing to a walk and smiling warmly at Sheik. Sonic nodded at both of them, and then raised an eyebrow at he caught sight of the black bra poking out of Sheik's pocket. "Dudette," he addressed her. "No offense or anything, but what the fudge?"

Sheik looked sidelong at Ike, putting off responding to the hedgehog. "You're done in the gym, I'm guessing."

"I was coming to find you," Ike insisted, and Sheik believed him. The thought made her happy, and since Ganondorf had shared the news about Roy, there was no longer that small twinge of guilt.

"Want to come and help us kill Marth?" Link asked brightly.

Ike sighed and shrugged out of his Vikings sweatshirt and offered it to the Hylian, who took it with a wry smile. "What did the guy do now?"

"Raided my underwear drawer, apparently," Sheik muttered.

Ike's eyes flared as he spun to look at her. "He _what?_"

Sheik pulled out the bra to show him, and Link's blonde head popped out of the sweatshirt as he clarified, "Um, actually, there were samples from several girls, unless Sheik happens to own a few ones even racier than that with purple hearts all over it."

"…I'm up for killing him," Ike agreed enthusiastically after a moment of silence.

"I want nothing to do with this one," Sonic sighed at the same time. "Last time I got mixed up in your drama I ended up kidnapped in Oregon."

"Look, we said we were sorry," Link whined. "You're the only one who can keep up with Marth if he bolts. Come oooooooon."

"How do you even know it was him?" Sonic bristled. "It could've been anybody."

"Because he left that tube of lipstick we found in the Pilot on the dresser. Remember how he had that lipstick smear on his face and we thought I had kissed him? It was the same stuff. Roy would never think to do that, Samus would never steal other girl's bras, Zelda's my girlfriend, Sheik'd never let anyone touch her underwear with a ten-foot-pole—tough luck Ike—and Ike's way too nice. It has a poetic justice that just reeks of…of…"

"Marthiness," Sonic suggested. "Well, you'll have to work something out, because yours truly is not participating in this one. I refuse to get mixed up in anything even remotely likely to generate the same sort of pictures that Oliver Stoelhart has hanging on his wall."

"Jerk," Link muttered as Sonic saluted jauntily at the three of them and dashed off. And then: "Stoelhart has those things on his WALL?"

"Yeah, right next to the picture of his girlfriend!" Sonic shouted down the hallway.

"Stoelhart has a girlfriend?" Ike asked of nobody in particular.

"Who cares," Sheik said. "We're going Marth-hunting, aren't we?"

Ike gave her a quick once-over. "You sure you're okay to be running around and stuff? Because—"

She thwacked him with the bra, causing him to yelp and take a giant leap backwards like it burned his skin. "Jeez! I'm not a weakling! I've been hurt way more than this before and I immediately had to go and save his—" She threw out an arm in Link's direction "—klutzy butt immediately afterwards, and nobody was fussing over me then."

"Let us—let me fuss over you," he ordered, taking a step closer to her to close the distance that he had leapt away. She blinked; startled by the sudden proximity: despite the fact that it was December, he was wearing a T-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and had changed from his shorts back into a pair of loose jeans. Sheik was, as per her winter usual, wearing a grey turtleneck (with the sleeves shoved up past her elbows) and a grey and white striped scarf that had been yanked away from her face over a pair of dark jeans.

She nearly stuttered, unable to quite convey her thoughts into words. Her red eyes found his blue, and something locked, although she couldn't have said what—

And then Link's hand was flung between them, and he was crying, "We are on a dangerous mission! You can pull a Twilight stare-at-each-other-for-fifteen-minutes later when you're alone!"

They sprang apart, Ike hissing a swear word, Sheik just rolling her eyes.

"You've seen Twilight?" Sheik asked skeptically after a moment.

Link shrugged. "Twilight, Twilight Princess. I thought there would be an interesting connection, but there really wasn't. Let's go find Marth."

Sonic suddenly darted back down the hallway, screeching to a halt and looking up at the three of them to say, "Marth's in his bedroom, if you're still looking for him, but he said he didn't do it."

"You talked to him?" Link asked incredulously. "Seriously?"

"Well, yeah." Sonic shrugged. "And he said he didn't do it. I guess he may have been lying."

Link rolled his eyes, and for a minute looked very much like he was Sheik's older brother. He whirled on his heel, the too-big Viking's sweatshirt hanging off of his shoulders as he stalked off down the hallway, making for the bedroom corridor.

He fully expected to have to kick Marth's door down, but found it ajar. Recently, the Altean had replaced his 'If the music is too loud, you're too old' with another witty statement taped on the door that read 'Some people are like Slinkys: not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one of them tumble down the stairs.'

"Morning," Marth said lazily from his bed. He was leaning up against the wall, watching Smosh on his laptop.

"Can you explain this, please?" Sheik asked, shoving her way past Link and yanking the brassiere from her pocket to brandish in Marth's face. Ike filed in after her, but quietly tucked himself away in the corner.

Marth glanced up. "It's a bra. I've seen them before."

"Someone replaced every T-shirt of Link's with one of these."

"Sonic mentioned that, yeah," Marth sighed, and then stood up from the bed, running a hand through his hair. "Great prank and everything, but it wasn't me. Did you ask Roy?"

"We don't think Roy did it," Link explained. "Roy wouldn't have known about the lipstick because he was away for the whole incident."

"Holy cow the lipstick was there too?" Marth burst out laughing. "That's priceless! Wish I had seen your face!" He slapped the wall. "Dang it, I wish I had thought of this one."

"Yeah, well, we thought of you because of the lipstick, so…" Link sighed. "I'm completely out of ideas—I just want to slap someone. Can I slap you?"

"What—no," Marth said in an 'are-you-kidding-me' sort of way. He started pacing the bedroom, lightly stepping over piles of clothes and junk that were the reason none of the cleaning staff wanted to be assigned his room to vacuum. "Okay," he said after a moment. "We need to figure out who did this, because you two"—he gestured at Sheik and Link—"need to kill him and I need to give him an epic high-five." He resumed pacing. After a moment he stopped and prodded one of the clothing piles thoughtfully, and then snapped his fingers. "Today is laundry day, isn't it?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well, this means that nobody raided your sweet-nothings drawer," Marth explained. "They just stole stuff from the laundry. He probably didn't even know whose stuff was whose."

"That makes me feel a bit better, I guess," Sheik muttered.

"And this is definitely a guy thing," Marth went on. "And because Stoelhart agreed to keep the pictures confidential, nobody but the people from Halloween know that Link was even wearing a dress, so that narrows it down to Link, Ike, me, Roy, or Sonic. Roy wouldn't have known about the lipstick, I've been lazing around in bed watching hysterical viral youtube videos, Link was the victim, so we're down to Ike or Sonic here."

Sheik turned to look at Ike, who stepped back, raising his hands in denial. "You think _I_ was sorting through a laundry basket full of underwear?"

"Do you think _Sonic_ would be sorting through a laundry basket full of underwear?" Sheik countered.

Ike shrugged. "I don't really know. He was there for the whole thing, but…"

"It doesn't seem like him, does it?" Marth sighed, tapping distractedly on his wall calendar, which—childishly—was counting down the days until Christmas. "It doesn't really sound like anybody, actually. Maybe Roy, but he didn't know about the lipstick, so…" He sat down on the bed and pulled a pair of tennis shoes on over his socks and stared off into space, thinking as he did up the laces.

"Maybe Stoelhart did it," Link mumbled unhappily.

"Dude, can you see Dr. Shrink going through people's laundry?" Marth questioned patronizingly as he stood up and started pacing again.

"No, I can't," Link replied. "I just keep thinking it sounds exactly like something you'd do."

"Don't you trust me?"

"Not with stuff like this," Link answered honestly. "You've never been one to miss a chance like this."

Marth stopped his circular pacing in front of the door and suddenly flashed a crooked smile.

Sheik blinked, sensing that something was off even before he spoke.

He took a deep breath and rocked back on his heels, his blue eyes dancing. "I didn't miss the chance," he said quietly. "…And you just lost the game."

And then he was gone, flying out of the door he had strategically placed himself by, sprinting down the hallway and flying around the corner even before Link and Ike burst out after him, shouting swear words at the top of their lungs.

Sheik tried to keep up, but staggered to a halt at the end of the hallway, wincing at the pain in her ankle. She was beyond annoyed, but also sort of relieved. This sort of behavior was almost to be expected from Marth. She was glad that it hadn't been Ike—but she wished she had been able to help hunt Marth down. What she would give for one, good solid kick right between his…

A glorious idea suddenly occurred to her, and she limped back into Marth's bedroom. She tapped his laptop impatiently and was relieved to see that he was still logged in. After a bit of experimentation with his touch-pad mouse, she navigated her way to his computer preferences and—with the help of google—found out how to set a song to play whenever he went onto the internet (she gathered that the internet was basically the only reason he used the computer). She set the song to Rick Ashley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' and closed the computer.

Smiling evilly and feeling very satisfied, she left the room and was surprised to see Dr. Oliver Stoelhart standing in front of the doorway, arms crossed over a charcoal-colored turtleneck.

"It's time for your physical therapy," he said, and then caught sight of her flushed face and raised an eyebrow. "You weren't running, were you? You know the doctors told you not to run."

"I wasn't really running," Sheik mumbled.

"No?"

"No. I was just messing around with Marth's computer."

"And why were you doing that?" His tone wasn't really reproachful, just curious.

"He stole my…" Sheik winced. "He pulled a practical joke on Link that involved some of my…um…stuff."

Oliver, to his credit, just sighed. "I don't even want to know," he muttered. "Does this joke have anything to do with Ike and Link trying and failing to catch our resident Altean?"

"A bit, yeah," Sheik replied nonchalantly, wishing that she would stop blushing. She allowed herself to be led towards the infirmary to where the physical therapist's office was. Her eyes caught Marth's dog-eared calendar as she walked past his open door, and she happened to notice that there were less days left until Christmas than she thought—and she hadn't come up with any good Christmas ideas.

Well, in this regard, at least, the day had been useful. She would get Ganondorf a packet of seeds for his gardening reference, Link a makeup kit, and Marth…She thought for a few minutes before deciding on some sort of exploding pie. Something loud and obnoxious.

…And Ike. What would she give Ike? She looked down at the scuffed up cast on her foot, and thought about the way he had held her after she had fallen, and thought about the way their eyes had met just now in the hallway…For once, the only thing she saw was blue: blue eyes, blue hair. There was no more red anymore.

Just in time for Christmas.

**xXx**

**Yeah, couldn't resist slipping that game reference in there…XD I've been working on this thing for so long that I can actually open up the Game word document without actually losing the game. It's ridiculous. **

**But…yeah. My friend and I came up with the bra prank awhile ago, but we were both too chicken to actually pull it off. XD So I thought, what the heck. Marth can do it. So…we got some potential Nana/Roy stuff goin' on here. X_x Not sure where that's going to go. Do you guys approve, not approve?**

**BTW: _Foxpilot_ gave me this idea: I'm offering either a FREE REQUEST CHAPTER (anything you like—I won't turn it down so long as it's T-rated) FOR THE GAME OR A ONE/TWO-SHOT PRIZE FIC on your subject of choice written by myself FOR ANYBODY WHO CREATES OR CAN DIRECT ME TO SOME GAME FANART. Don't know if anybody will take me up on this, but I think it would be awesome. XD It's Christmas. Draw me Oliver or Marth or something cool and I'll write you something cool. If anybody has any ideas for a more motivational prize, please let me know!**

**Which brings me up to the next thing: Christmas. It's two days away. X_x I _think_ I'll have the chapter up by then, but please don't run after me with pitchforks if it's a day late. I'm completely brain-dead because I saw the Sherlock Holmes movie late last night (and it was awesome. Go see it—now.). Forgive me. If it's not up by Christmas day, then I wish you a merry one. :)**

**And thus, Mouse has returned! **

**Please review! :D**


	49. Chapter 49: Christmas

**. . .OVER 700 REVIEWS! DUUUUUDE(s and dudettes)! THAT'S AMAZING! *0***

**I believe some major thanks are in order:**

**Thanks to newcomer _OuranFruitsluvr_; Yes I am a Marth lover. XD I'm glad you like it! And this is the Christmas chapter, so happy day for you, I guess. ~ Thanks to another newcomer _blooddrippedcupcake_; I don't know if you continued reading past chapter 1, but thanks for checking it out. :) ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; YES. A F-ing cheese grater. We're gonna rule the world. XD ~ Thanks to _EggplantWitch_; Marth is a fail gamer, that's why it took him so long. XD Snarky is recognized by my spell-check, so we're saying it's an official word now. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; 'you horrible little boy' made me laugh so hard. XD I don't even know why. ~ Thank you to another (I have a TON. Holy cheese (y'see what I did there?)) newcomer _Eclypse13_; Oh, paintball war. Good idea. No offense, but I'm going to keep the thank-yous up here—I've been doing it for so long that I think people'd freak if I changed it. XD ~ Thanks to _piplupfan580_; FUS RO DAH! I fail at that game. XD ~ Thanks to _Toxic Ink_; I don't know, I love DSi art. XD I'm glad you liked the chapter. ~ Thanks to (another) newcomer _TwiliRupee_; Yeah, it was a typo and I'm too lazy to fix it. X_X ~ Thanks to (jiminy cricket) another newcomer _Exellion Arbiter_; oh, my, gosh. XD Except I don't read Japanese! What does it say on the first one? ;0; But anyway, you met the requirements, so you get a request or a one/two-shot. :) You can either leave a reply or PM me—If you don't respond in a few days I'll probably PM you, so…Thanks so much! :D ~ Thanks to _RaymondTHEspriter_; . . . . . . . Words do not express how much I wish to facepalm/give you a high-five right now. ~ Thanks to _TehGameBoy_; Yes, I do read Awkward Zombie, but I didn't realize there was one like the last chapter until after I'd posted. XD Whoops. ~ Thanks to (ANOTHER ONE!) _rosebudlilac;_ yes, Popo is scheduled to show up soon. :) ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; I'm…I'm sorry, I could not understand the last sentence in your review, but it sounded like it could've been interesting. X_x ~ Thanks to _NintendoGamerX_; Yay! I'm glad that I did a decent job making things original. ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; Ooh, yeah. Maybe something like that'll pop up in the next arc. ~ And thanks to _ChickIstilldon'tknow_becauseshedoesn'thaveafanfictionsoIcan'tauthor-stalkher; *0* You have artz? …I actually have no idea how you'd get it to me. X_x Um….photobucket/deviantart? I have no idea. Hm. Thanks anyway though! :D**

**Seriously, is everybody changing their usernames or what? There were, like, fifty newcomers! It's awesome, but weird! X_x It's getting to the point where anybody new to this story who manages to read all 50-ish chapters in, like, one or two sittings really deserves a reward or something. You guys are ridiculous. Props to all of you.**

**Quick disclaimer so you can read the story: I don't own them. And the Christmas presents are lame but my brain is fried—so there.**

**You guys thought I wouldn't get this up in time. Shame on you. :D**

**Chapter 49: Christmas**

"IT'S CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAAS!" was what the entire brawl complex woke up to on December 25th. Bleary-eyed beings stuck tousled heads out into the hallway to see Lucas, Ness, Quincy, Pit, and surprisingly Kirby all running (or flying, in Kirby's and Pit's cases) down the corridor in their pajamas, hollering at the top of their lungs and occasionally pausing to kick or pound their hands on one of the few doors that still remained closed.

"I wouldn't do that," Marth advised a hyperactive Ness, scooping up the latter just as the child had raised a fist to bang on Ganondorf's door. The Altean set Ness down and put his hands on his hips, voice stern as he explained, "You know the guy's crabby in the mornings. Especially on days like today when everybody else is enjoying themselves. If you want to enjoy your Christmas and make sure you don't get hate presents from him next year, just leave him alone."

From inside the bedroom, Ganondorf grumbled agreement and went back to sleep.

Yawning and blinking the sleep from their eyes, the brawlers started to trickle into the hallway, most of them pulling sweatshirts or bathrobes on over their pajamas. It was just after six in the morning, which was a new record. Last year the younger kids had woken everybody up around four.

Christmas in the Brawl (and in Melee before) stadium was something of an interesting process, given that none of the brawlers actually had direct incomes on Earth, and Nintendo tended to be touchy about people bringing money or gold to and from different dimensions. Not to mention that all thirty-five brawlers had a grand total of two cars between them, and the nearest city was almost forty minutes away. The eventual result was the creation of a Christmas task force, sarcastically christened the 'elves,' who took the list that each of the brawlers made of the gifts they wanted to give others, went out and bought them, wrapped them, and then set them all up in the actual stage for the brawlers to open on Christmas morning. For the first few years, the elves had actually dropped off the presents individually in front of the smashers' door come Christmas morning, but after several board meetings it was decided that the entire staff would have Christmas day off. They would return to open presents from coworkers on Boxing Day: the 26th.

Thus, everything was set up and ready by the time the sleepy group had shuffled its way down the hallway and was starting out towards the stadium.

"Hey, Quince, kid," Marth called out, addressing Quincy and Pit. "Go get us some food."

"Gotcha," Pit said eagerly, grabbing his compatriot by the elbow as they separated from the group and turned left, making for the kitchen.

"Oh sweet mother of jackpots," Quincy breathed when the stepped into the cafeteria. The kitchen staff—knowing that the brawlers' cooking was basically limited to things like ramen and frozen waffles, had left a massive spread of sandwiches, sodas, mixed nuts, microwaveable popcorn, chips, and cake.

"Dude, there's a box here with your name on it," Pit blurted, holding up a medium-sized box tied with a red ribbon.

Quincy held his hand out expectantly, and Pit passed him the parcel, something silver flashing around the angel's neck as he moved.

"What's that?" Quincy asked as he plucked at the bow, nodding with his head towards Pit's throat. "A necklace?"

"Not what you think," Pit assured him, fishing a dog tag from under his shirt and holding out to his friend. Quincy spared it a glance, and noticed that there were two angel wings engraved onto the smooth metal tag. "Angel gave it to me before she left," Pit explained. "She's with her grandma for Christmas."

Quincy had finally succeeded in getting the package open, and found himself holding a new baseball cap with a smash ball where his pokeball logo usually was.

"That's got to be from Nya, right?" Pit guessed. "Did you get her anything?"

Quincy shrugged, and slipped the hat on his head.

"What'd you get her?" Pit asked again, grabbing an armful of food and starting out the door.

"Um…" Quincy dithered as they walked down the short hallway and into the stadium.

"Oh don't tell me you didn't get her anyth—" Pit started hotly, and then stopped as they stepped inside, stumbling to a halt as he and the pokemon trainer took in the Christmassy chaos playing out before them.

The entire stadium had been bedazzled in green, red and silver tinsel, and artificial snow was exploding out of the confetti cannons and then floating down to the ground. Thirty-five individual Christmas trees were set up in a ring around the stage, where a humongous red sleigh—complete with animatronic reindeer—was set up, although the presents had been removed from the sleigh and set up under the trees.

"It's a bit anticlimactic, don't you think?" Marth asked, swooping down out of nowhere and grabbing a bagel out of Quincy's arms. He winked at the pokemon trainer, but continued talking before Quincy could find a place to interject his question. "Last year we had to fight for our gifts, remember? They kept the sleigh, apparently. Wonder if it still has blood on it—not that you could see it anyway, of course. They probably did that on purpose, don't you think…?"

"Marth!" Quincy exploded suddenly, clutching his new baseball hat to his chest. "Did you…? I mean, you sent me to the kitchen! Did you know what…what was there? Did you know?"

The Altean bent down slightly so he could look Quincy in the eye. "Nya asked me to direct you to the kitchen, yeah. She didn't say what for."

"I didn't know you were friends," Quincy said quietly.

"We aren't," Marth assured him with a congenial grin. "She's just generally the one who gets the much-hated task of cleaning my room, so we occasionally have a civil conversation." He grabbed Quincy's shoulders and nudged Pit with his elbow. "Come on, stop being so gloomy. It's Christmas! Open your presents! Be merry! Worry about girls later!" He paused. "Although, I must say that the fact that you have girls giving you gifts is something in itself. Well done."

And with that, he was off, darting around the ring of Christmas trees to throw himself down next to Samus, who looked up skeptically and said something to him that Quincy and Pit couldn't catch but made the Altean laugh.

"Well, come on," Pit said at length, grabbing Quincy's pajama sleeve and giving it a half-hearted tug. "Presents, remember?"

"Yeah, presents," Quincy said distantly, and allowed himself to be towed into the mini-winter wonderland.

**xXx**

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Samus asked dryly as Marth plopped himself down next to her.

He responded by sitting up on his heels to paw through her pile of presents, eventually selecting a small box and letting it drop into her lap. "Good morning to you too. It occurred to me," he began in a holier-than-thou tone, "That I probably should explain my present, because I don't know if you'll get it."

"You have so much faith in my intelligence," Samus grumbled as she subtly slid something behind her back and undid the pink ribbon on the box, and then on an impulse flicked it into Marth's bluish hair. He—surprisingly—left it there, watching patiently as she continued to open his present. She wondered vaguely as she tore of the rest of the paper if he remembered the significance of the pink ribbon, or if he had just chosen it because she was a girl. She pried the lid of the box off and scowled, not really bothering to hide her disappointment. "It's a bracelet…"

"Ah, see, I thought you'd think that," Marth chuckled, catching sight of her expression. "It's actually an anklet. I figured you weren't a bracelet type of girl."

Samus refrained from commenting as she held up the wire loop to inspect it more carefully. "What's it made of? Is it one of those piano wire thingies?"

Marth shook his head. "No. You don't play, so it would have no significance. It's made of the same wire that you use with your plasma whip on the stage. Custom-made. Of course," he continued as she opened her mouth to protest. "I am aware that you don't actually have a wire in your whip in real life—hence its name— but I still thought it was fitting."

"I…well…thanks," Samus said lamely, examining the anklet again with a new eye. "It's really neat."

"You're welcome," Marth said unabashedly, pulling the ribbon out of his hair to look at it thoughtfully. "You know, I don't suppose you'd remember…?"

Samus blinked—startled and simultaneously pleased that he knew what she was thinking of—and reached over to flick his forehead, grabbing hold of the object behind her back so it was ready for immediate use. "Of course I remember, idiot. You kissed me—in front of everybody, on live TV—on this very stage on Valentine's Day."

Marth hmmed, a pleased smile on his face. "Traumatizing, I'll bet," he said quietly.

"What, getting sexually assaulted by you in front of everyone? You bet," Samus wisecracked.

"It was impulsive and not in any way premeditated," he promised.

"This was, unfortunately," Samus sighed, and then stood up, dragging Marth up by his shirt collar.

He was looking at her impassively, completely unconcerned. "Sam?"

"This," Samus explained apologetically. "Was not _completely_ my idea." And then she threw up the small leaves that she had been concealing behind her back.

Marth's blue eyes tracked them as they flew over his head. "Oh," he said when he got it. "Mistletoe."

"Exactly," Samus said perkily. "Glad you understand."

Marth grinned, and bent down to kiss her as the white snow fell all around them. The majority of the brawlers around them stared, and a few whistled, but the two of them didn't seem to care.

**xXx**

Sheik rolled her eyes at Marth and Samus' make-out fest, and then turned back to her ever melodramatic counterpart. "It's cheesy," she said matter-of-factly, answering a question Zelda had asked her just before both of their attentions had been diverted.

"Yeah, but is it _too_ cheesy?" Zelda demanded, holding up something that was involved with the presentation of Link's present. "I mean, will he laugh at me?"

"Oh, I'm sure he will," Sheik said as she tore off the wrapping paper of Peach's present to her. "But then he'll probably hug you. And I'm sure kisses will be involved. Oh, look," she said miserably as she pulled out the contents of the box. "_Another_ scarf. I've already gotten three! I mean, I like them and I'll wear most of them, but my gosh! The people here are so unimaginative. I mean, the events of Halloween alone have huge potential for inside-joke gifts. I wouldn't even mind a few gag gifts—at least those show personalization. But no, I get scarves. How impersonal can you get?"

Zelda made a point of looking over at her present under Shek's tree. "Go on then," she encouraged. "It's not a scarf."

Sheik rolled her eyes, but scooted over so she could reach the present and unwrapped the small box, revealing a pair of neon blue headbuds, as well as an iTunes gift card.

"You mentioned that your headphones kept falling off when you were running," Zelda explained happily upon catching the appreciative grin on Sheik's face. "And you're always a practical person, so…"

"Well dang," Sheik laughed. "Now I wish I had gotten you something cooler."

"I like what you got me," Zelda insisted. "The hair extensions will be really useful now." She tossed her short hair pointedly, sending artificial snow flying everywhere.

"No, but seriously, I could have at least gotten neon colors or something cool. I feel sort of bad."

"Well, don't," Zelda insisted fiercely. "Did you know Nintendo wanted me to wear a wig? This is so much better."

"Yikes, seriously?" Sheik muttered sympathetically as she snatched up another present and twirled it between her fingers. "Alright, let's see what…" She squinted at the label. "…Falco got me this year."

**xXx**

"What'd you end up getting, Snake?" Pit hazarded, turning his head to glance sidelong at Snake's tree, which had ended up next to the angel's. The older man looked up, startled that he was being spoken to. Pit thought about pretending like he hadn't really said anything—Snake was scary when he was just staring at you like that—but decided to just stick it out against his better judgment.

After a minute, Snake shrugged. "The usual." Pit raised a curious eyebrow, and Snake reluctantly elaborated. "Lots of gun manuals, lots of horribly-written espionage novels, a handheld chess game, sparring pads, knife sheaths—the usual." He crossed his arms. "What about you, kid?"

"Eh, the usual," Pit parroted. "One of the cool things is this little radio thingy Dr. Stoelhart gave me that is supposed to let me fly up high without having to worry about getting mowed down by an airplane. Apparently I'm registered now as a pilot of a small glider because there wasn't a box to check for people with their own wings. He said that was as close as he could get."

"Neat," Snake admitted, trying to hide his curiosity. "Can I see it?"

Pit passed him the small black radio, and perked up when he heard an ecstatic shriek from Quincy's Christmas tree. "Hold onto that, will you?" he asked the spy, unfurling his wings and flying off to see what his friend had discovered.

**xXx**

"Have you opened mine yet?" Peach asked of Mario, who jumped at the sound of her voice, much to the amusement of his green-pajama-clad brother.

"N-no," he stuttered as he regained his composure. "I haven't."

"Ah," Peach sighed seductively, and then perked up, her sky blue eyes alighting with an idea. "Do you think you could open it now? I want to see you open it!"

The poor Italian never had a chance, not against those eyes. Red-faced and mumbling incoherently, Mario snatched up the pink box and tore off the wrapping paper as unceremoniously as he could. The minute the lid was lifted from the box, an explosion of heart-shaped confetti was triggered, and the small bits of paper rained down with the artificial snow for a few moments until they settled. Mario stuffed his hands into the box, unruffled by the hearts, and pulled out a bottle of Italian wine and a large box of assorted chocolates.

"Thank you," he said, his voice genuinely happy as he looked down at the bottle.

Peach leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, and the flush that had receded from his face swooped back in. While he was collecting his wits for the second time in as many minutes, Peach turned to his brother.

"Now how about you, Luigi? Have you opened my present yet?"

**xXx**

"_AAH!_" Roy yelped, rearing back from his tree as confetti hearts exploded from the box he had dropped. Nearby, Ike bit on his tongue to keep from smirking. Link showed no such restraint and burst into hysterical laughter, which caused Roy to fling the box lid at him.

"Link," Ike called, ducking down as the entire box came flying at the Hylian now. Link scampered behind his tree, then stuck his head out to shoot Roy the bird and say, "Yeah? What's up?"

"Come here for a second," Ike beckoned, and Link leapt out from the tree, dodged another flying box, and promptly hid behind Ike's shoulder.

Roy's arm came around with a third empty box, but he stopped when he caught sight of Ike standing where Link should have been, arms crossed and an 'are you serious?' expression on his face. Roy shrugged apologetically. "We appear to be in a stalemate until Link moves," he said dryly.

"What did you need me over here for, exactly?" Link asked meekly, still cowering behind his taller friend.

Ike waited until he saw Zelda slip underneath Link's Christmas tree, and then sighed dramatically and said, "I forgot." He shot a glance at Roy, who had been inching sideways, trying to get a clear shot at Link. "You should probably make a run back over to your tree. Try not to die."

Link made an exasperated noise. "Why'd you call me over here if you were just going to forget? I'm in enemy territory now."

"Ike!" Roy shouted in a frustrated tone. "Move your huge head so I can whack elf-boy with a box."

Ike raised an eyebrow, and Roy flinched, realizing his mistake.

"On three, make a run for your tree," Ike murmured to Link, who had squatted down into a sprinter's stance.

"What about Roy?" he hissed, preparing to bolt.

"I got you covered," Ike said with a crooked smile. Link looked confused, but then nodded. Roy was in the process of stacking up empty boxes around himself as a makeshift fort, but that wasn't about to stop what was coming.

"Three—go!" Ike shouted. Link cursed, but then took off for his tree. Ike, at the same time, charged forward, plowing through Roy's boxes and catching the teenager around the waist. Roy screamed and somehow managed to get his legs tangled in Ike's, and they both crashed up against the stage railing.

"Ow," Ike muttered as he pushed himself up onto his elbows and shoved Roy off his chest. "What the heck was that, shorty?"

Roy sat up, shaking wrapping paper scraps and fake snow from his bright hair. "You tackled me!" he cried angrily. "What did you expect?"

Ike shoved himself up into a sitting position, looking at the mess they had made when they fell. "Well," he said at length. "I really hope somebody caught that one tape, because I'm sure it looked spectacular."

Roy snickered. "Bet it did," he agreed. He glanced up at Ike, his blue eyes wide with sudden concern. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Ike shook his head and picked up a plastic card that he had noticed. "Is this yours? This…" He twisted the card over to see what it was. "Gift card for…Swim…Outlet…?"

Roy snatched it from him. "Long story."

Ike leaned back patiently against the railing and crossed his arms.

The younger boy sighed, and caved almost immediately. "Remember when we went to the beach?" he blurted. Ike nodded. "And remember how I didn't have a swimsuit?"

"Well, you had one, as I recall," Ike inserted. "It was just that it was too small and a speedo."

"Detail," Roy snapped. "Sheik gave me the card and told me that I needed a new one." He looked on the verge of saying something else, but a massive 'sproing' accompanied by a surprised yelp interrupted him. The two of them turned to see frosting-covered Marth stagger back from his tree and fall flat on his back, what looked like a pie box dropping from his hands.

As they watched, Sheik walked over to stand over him, a triumphant expression her face as she looked down at Marth, who was still lying on the ground and was now making obscene hand gestures at her.

Ike stood up and started to make his way over to her, and Roy—startlingly—stayed where he was. Ike turned around to look at him, and found Roy looking in the opposite direction entirely. Ike tried to follow his gaze, but only saw the ice-climbers, who were in the process of trading chocolates with one another. Ike shrugged, and left, figuring that Roy was just trying to avoid causing issues. Kind of him.

**xXx**

"You are such a jerk," Marth was saying from the floor as Ike ran up. Sheik grinned, and the Altean wiped some of the frosting off of his face to flick at her pants. She sidestepped, and nearly ran into Ike.

"Jeez, didn't see you," she gasped. "By the way, your present was really sweet. I like it."

"What'd you get her?" Marth asked, wiping his face with his sleeve. "Because I got her a gift card to Victoria's Secret."

"And you wonder why I gave you an exploding pie," Sheik grumbled. "Ike got me a harpsichord."

"A what?"

"A harpsichord," Sheik repeated happily. "It's like my lyre. The harp-thing I had back in Hyrule."

"Huh," Marth sighed, shaking frosting and snow and bits of pie out of his hair.

"What'd Samus end up getting you?" Ike asked curiously.

The Altean grinned. "Skyward Sword—since I beat Twilight Princess. Now all I need to do is steal Quincy's 3DS and I'll play Ocarina of Time and the other two DS titles, and I'll be caught up." He looked at Sheik expectantly. "Was Skyward Sword as hard as Twilight Princess? Because that stuff got intense."

"Skyward Sword is harder," Sheik said, even though she had no idea.

"Hmm," Marth tutted, and then promptly turned on his heel, making for the door. "I really need a shower. If anybody asks where I went, tell them I'll be back in ten minutes, okay?"

"Alright," Ike agreed, and turned to Shiek. "Roy liked your present, by the way."

She grinned. "Good. Do you know what he got me?"

Ike shook his head blankly.

Sheik's face was inexplicably bright as she grinned up at him. "A scarf."

**xXx**

"Hey," Quincy said quietly to Pit, who glanced up. The angel had been hanging out by Quincy's tree ever since the pokemon trainer had unwrapped a prototype Metal Gear Solid game and nearly passed out from excitement. "I never answered your question before, about Nya."

"Oh," Pit said distractedly, reading the instruction manual on his new mp3 player. "Yeah, did you forget to get her something?"

"No," Quincy said indignantly. "I'm not that stupid."

"Eh," Pit's tone was noncommittal.

"I got her a pokeball," Quincy admitted as he toyed with the zipper on a sweatshirt his parents had sent him. "Is that weird?"

Pit perked up. "When you say you got her a pokeball, what do you mean, exactly?"

"I mean I filled an empty pokeball with M&Ms and gave it to her," Quincy sighed. "I know it's cheesy."

Pit was shaking his head. "No no no," he said reassuringly. "That's awesome. What kind of gamer girl wouldn't want to get a legit pokeball full of candy? Now if you had put a little slip of paper in the ball saying 'I choose you' or something like that, _that _would be cheesy and lame and way overdone, but this is neat."

"But I don't know if she is a gamer girl. I just couldn't find a cool box and I thought…"

Pit sighed. "Dork. She works _here._ Do you really think she isn't a gamer?"

Quincy looked enormously relieved. He fell onto his back, closing his eyes so the fake snow wouldn't get in them. "How are you so good at the girl thing?" he whined.

"You only recently graduated from being a social hermit to an actual member of society," Pit pointed out. "I, however, have been interacting with fans of both genders ever since arrival."

"Shut up," Quincy muttered. "I'll figure it out. You make it sound like I'm an idiot."

"Have you kissed her yet?"

"OMIGOSH NO!" Quincy howled, his face bright red as he yanked off Nya's hat to throw at his best friend.

**xXx**

Link glanced under his tree and blinked. "That is so cheesy," he couldn't help saying.

Zelda smiled hopefully up at him, shaking her bangs from her face. She was wearing a purple knit sweater, with the words 'For Link' stitched across the front in white thread. "Cheesy can be cute."

"True that. Especially when it's you," Link agreed, crawling underneath the tree to sit next to her. Acting on an instinct, he ruffled her hair, marveling at the fact that it actually ruffled. Usually his hands just got tangled. "So there are some advantages," he muttered to himself.

"Hm?"

"To short hair. There are some advantages," Link explained. "Despite the fact that you're devastatingly adorable with short hair."

"Sheik got me hair extensions," Zelda said quietly, snuggling into Link's shoulder.

"Ah, Sheik," Link sighed. "Ever the practical gift-giver. You know what she got me?"

Zelda shook her head.

"_Socks,_" Link said dramatically. Zelda uttered a peal of laughter, and Link continued. "I'm not joking, she got me socks. And they weren't even cool socks: they were plain and white. Who gives _socks_ on Christmas? Although, after her spectacular pie thing with Marth, I can hardly bring myself to insult her gift-giving skills. Anyway, about the extensions—don't use them. You look really good." He dropped a kiss onto her nose. "Merry Christmas."

"You too."

**xXx**

**True story: I had to look up swimsuit stores on the internet for this chapter, and now I keep getting pop-ups of luscious (*nosebleed*) speedo-clad men. Is it wrong that I don't immediately close them? X_x**

**Anyway, there you go. I realized that there hasn't been a lot of Quincy/Nya or Pit/Angel fluff lately, and I tried to do various snapshots of my main brawlers, but in the end I completely forgot about Sonic. Ah well. Also, I didn't get to write about this, but everybody totally spammed Ganondorf's presents. I had a list at one point of all the junk he got, but I lost it. X_x It was all ridiculous stuff like Batman boxers and shock-collars. He's forever alone. **

**My offer still stands: I'm offering either a FREE REQUEST CHAPTER (anything you like—I won't turn it down so long as it's T-rated) FOR THE GAME OR A ONE/TWO-SHOT PRIZE FIC on your subject of choice written by myself FOR ANYBODY WHO CREATES OR CAN DIRECT ME TO SOME GAME FANART. Don't know if anybody will take me up on this, but I think it would be awesome. XD Draw me Oliver or Marth or something cool and I'll write you something cool. If anybody has any ideas for a more motivational prize, please let me know!**

**Merry Christmas! Heck, Happy Ramahanukwanzmas (and a politically-correct new year!). Happy holidays—be safe, have fun, do something you love. :D See you all in 2012!**

**Please review!**


	50. Chapter 50: The Dairy Queen Incident

**Hi! Hope you all had a good New Year and were able to get back into the swing of things pretty easily. My excuse for not updating in two weeks is thus: You know all of those projects that your teachers 'advise' you to do over Christmas break so you don't have a complete mental breakdown when you come back to school and suddenly have five major projects due right before finals? Yeah. XD I'm an idiot. But it's all done now! *whew* **

**Thanks are in order! Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde;_ XD I actually love both of your suggestions. I might use one of them next. ~ Thanks to _BoshiBasher555_; The list, unfortunately, remains lost. I'll post it if/when I find it though! XD ~ Thanks to _piplupfan580_; I hope your holidays were awesome! :D ~ Thanks to _rosebudlilac_; Yeah, I'll probably mention some more of the gifts later. :3 ~ Thanks to _RaymondTHEspriter_; XD I'm glad the AN made you laugh. Your reviews generally make me chuckle, so it balances out. ~ Thanks to _STKB_; …Meh, you're not the first and you probably won't be the last to forget I'm a girl. XD I don't mind—I think it's kind of funny. ~ Thanks to _Kalyx Lowell_; I can tell Marth's your favorite. :D The world needs more Marth fangirls. ~ Thanks to_ TehGameBoy_; No, totally not weird. Not at all. ~ Thanks to _grizelink_; Whoa, that's awesome. It's weird for me to think that people in other countries are reading this. I guess that's the internet for you. :) ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; LOL. That was an excellent auto-correct. XD And the woman is just his girlfriend. She…um…died…before he could propose. It's a long story. ~ Thanks to _Tune4Toons_; Well done making it! Christmas miracles FTW. :) ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; XD Thank you, although I can't claim credit for Ramahanukwanzmas. It's something my mother says. ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; I actually had the Christmas chapter written about a month in advance. XD ~ Thanks to OuranFruitsluvr; I FINALLY got Skyward Sword and it. Is. INCREDIBLE. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; It's going to be the last line now. *files away* XD Don't think about it you perv! ~ Thanks to _Exhibition Arbiter_; I abuse Ganon way too much. I figured he'd enjoy a day off. Anyway, I'll go check your PM as soon as I post this. Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. ~ Thanks to _Chickyoudon'tknow_; YOU GOT A FANFICTION! *squeals* And thank you for the fanart—I draw everything in sketchbooks too. Let me know when you think of a request. ~ Thanks to _TheOracleOfTime_; Wow, that's high praise indeed. Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; I hope it continues too, thanks. :) ~ Thanks to _Atrayis_; Epic pictures. XD Let me know what you want for your request/oneshot. ~ Thanks to _blooddrippedcupcake_; Woot! I'm glad you made it up to the current chapter. :D ~ Thanks to _Cunninham0208487_; I salute you, in that case. ~ Thanks to _Mental Vampire_; You're actually the second person to figure that out. ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Right, right. Gotta get on that. ~ Thanks to _NintendoGamerX_; Thank you very much! ~ And thanks to _Foxpilot_; *hides* I'm sorry I spelled Astley wrong! XD  
**

**Yeah…um…This chapter was written in bits and pieces over the last two weeks and I'm not sure if the flow really works quite right. So I'm sorry that it might not be up to my standard. X_x Nothing belongs to me except for Oliver Stoelhart. **

**Anyway, please read the 50th chapter, enjoy, and then review!**

**Chapter 50: The Dairy Queen Incident**

"You called?" Marth asked quietly as he stepped into Dr. Stoelhart's office, latching the heavy door behind him. Oliver had sent summons to Marth earlier that afternoon, but considering that he and Ike had been fighting their way through a training challenge, the Altean had only just got the memo now. As it was, his hair was still damp in places and curling a little over his ears due to the quick shower he had taken before going off to see Oliver.

"So I did," Stoelhart said with a small smile. "How was your holiday?"

"Great, actually," Marth admitted, hovering awkwardly by the door. He rubbed at his nose, which—surprisingly, given the season—looked a little sunburnt. "A bunch of us guys actually hopped the portal over to Quincy's Kanto Region, and spent a few days skiing and snowboarding and stuff in the mountains."

"I trust you remained amused and out of mischief."

"Yeah, we did. Some village idiot chucked a pokeball at Sonic, but it turned out okay."

"Glad to hear it." The psychiatrist steepled his fingers and motioned for Marth to come sit down, his smile remaining firmly fixed on his face. As the Altean made for the sofa, Oliver pulled up something on his laptop and swiveled the computer around so that Marth could see what was being displayed. Marth leaned forward on the couch and squinted at the grainy video that the psychiatrist was showing him.

"What's this supposed to be?" he asked honestly, squinting at the video player as if that could bring the pixilated figures into better focus. As it was, all he could see was a greyish blob that-oddly enough-sort of resembled a convertible. With a little imagination, Marth could see the shapes of one, maybe two, people sitting within the thing that was possibly a car. Time, texture, and details were all completely indistinguishable.

"Seriously," Marth sighed after a few moments of observation. "What am I supposed to be seeing here?"

"Maybe it'd be easier if I play it," Oliver sighed, and then reached forward and tapped the spacebar on his computer with a long-fingered hand. As the movie started to play, he leaned back in his chair and shot back his sleeve cuffs, buttoning them just below his elbows.

Once it was playing, the figures in the video became immediately recognizable. The fact that it wasn't recent (in fact, it was over two years old, if it was what Marth thought it was) didn't stop Marth from recognizing a younger version of himself sitting in the passenger seat of the car, and body language as well as a shock of blonde hair identified the driver as none other than Link. With the two persons and the car identified, Marth realized what the psychiatrist had found and suppressed a guilty grin.

"Where's this from?" he asked innocently as he shifted into a more comfortable position on the couch and lifted his eyes to meet Oliver's.

"I found it by accident when I was sifting through some old security camera footage looking for something," Stoelhart replied in the same off-handed tone Marth had used. He met the teenager's stare without showing any sort of expression other than his usual half-smile, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

Marth tugged on the sleeves of his polo shirt, trying to decide what his next move should be. Trying to appear casual, he made a point of checking the date in the corner of the video, and then asked, "What were you looking for, specifically? I mean, what would require you to look at video footage from..." Again he made a show of checking the screen, even though he knew the date off of the top of his head. "...Two years ago? And what does it have to do with m-"

"You can give it up now," Oliver said quietly, his voice calm and measured.

"What do you mean? Give what up?"

"You can drop it now," the psychiatrist sighed, his voice now tinged with more than a little impatience. Upon seeing Marth's confused expression, he continued with, "You know, Link and Roy already told me what happened. I called them in here before you."

Marth must have paled or clenched his hands, because Oliver suddenly chuckled.

"You're not in trouble," he said reassuringly. "It's not my job to punish. …It's my job to sign you up for so many hellish therapy sessions that you never even _dream_ of repeating an offense I catch you doing." He smiled brightly, and Marth fought the urge to squirm in his seat as he desperately tried to figure out how he had managed to tick off the person whose _job _it was to get into and mess with other people's heads.

"There, now that we understand one another," an extremely smug-looking Oliver said as he set down a small tape-recorder on the desk and pulled out a notepad and pen. He clicked the recorder on, glancing up at Marth with dancing gold-flecked eyes. He poised his pen on the paper, but then started spinning it unconsciously in his hand as he smiled impishly and finished, "Why don't you explain to me the events that caused what you refer to as 'The Dairy Queen Incident.'"

Marth open and closed his mouth a few time before deciding where to start. He ran a hand through his hair, making the wet parts stick up, and started in a quiet voice. "Well… I guess…well, back then, Roy Link and I were inseparable. We did everything together. But...This sounds really stupid, but I'd have to say the incident all started when they ran out of ice cream in the kitchen..."

**xXx**

It had been a quiet, boring week by Melee standards. The fact that the kitchen was completely out of ice cream-which Link had been craving for several days-was really only the excuse to do something that probably would've happened anyway.

"We don't need people to give us food!" had been fifteen-year-old Marth's rallying cry that night. "We can go get it ourselves."

"And how're we going to do that?" Roy, barely a teenager at the time, had demanded.

"I…we'll...um," Marth dithered, unsure.

"Isn't there a Dairy Queen a few miles from here?" Link had piped up then, sticking his tousled blonde head through a sweater.

"If you think I'm about to walk a few miles through the woods along the highway in the middle of the night, you've got another think coming," Roy mumbled unhappily.

"Patience," Marth teased. "An opportunity will present itself."

And one had, in the form of a beautiful red convertible that an unsuspecting Melee staffer had left running in the dark parking lot as he ran into the stadium to grab some papers to work on over the weekend.

"Dude, this is wrong," Link whispered. "Look at that car. That car is his transportation. It could be the most precious thing in his life. Why, it's-"

"It's his own fault for leaving it unlocked," Roy had snapped. "Come on, let's go."

**xXx**

"Wait," Oliver interrupted Marth's narrative. "You said _Roy_ was the one who told Link it was okay to steal the car, right?"

"Borrow, not steal," Marth said testily. "And yes, that was Roy."

"That's entertaining."

"Why?"

Oliver smirked as he paged back through his notes. "He told me you said it. Carry on."

**xXx**

"Can you even drive?" Marth asked nervously as Link hopped into the car and gave the keys an experimental twist, causing the engine to sputter. The three teenagers shot a fearful glance at the door, but the owner of the car didn't run out screaming or anything, so Link twisted the keys again. This time the engine caught and remained on, and Marth hesitantly swung himself into the passenger seat. Roy chewed on his lip, obviously confused.

"What's up?" Marth asked.

"There's only two seats," Roy pointed out.

"There's a trunk," Link said thoughtfully, pressing the button on the dashboard that popped it open.

Roy was shaking his head, sending the drawstrings of his sweatshirt flying over his shoulder. "Not happening, Elf-boy."

"Dude, it's either that or sitting on Marth's lap," Link insisted, revving the engine, turning on the headlights, and looking nervously over at the door. "Come on, we don't have all day."

"Why can't Marth ride in the trunk?" Roy despaired.

"Because I'm a foot taller than you," Marth cried, shoving Roy's hands off of his shoulder as the latter briefly tried to pull him from the seat. "Get in now or we're all going to get busted!"

Roy huffed, but then crawled into the trunk and let Link close the trunk on him. "There had better be air holes," was his parting comment as the lid latched. "Or I swear I will haunt you both in the afterlife."

**xXx**

"So you locked your best friend… in the trunk?"

Marth rolled his eyes. "It was a two-seat convertible. What were we supposed to do, wait for another golden opportunity?" He scowled, and then added thoughtfully, "And it wasn't locked. We aren't monsters."

Oliver scowled and then looked at something in a file he conveniently had lying open on the desk. "Isn't Roy susceptible to motion sickness in small, moving compartments?" he asked casually.

"Yeah, well…We didn't know that at the time."

**xXx**

They eventually had to pull over to the side of the road and spring the trunk, whereupon Roy vaulted from the depths and ran for the ditch.

"He would," Link sighed, checking the clock on the dashboard. "Do you think they reported the car missing by now?"

"I don't know," Marth replied, watching Roy retch into the bushes. "You scared?"

"A little," Link admitted. "We just jacked some random guy's car."

"He'll understand," Marth hypothesized. "So long as he sticks around and lets us explain. We're just kids—come on. What's the worst they can do?" Link was silent, staring moodily at the steering wheel. Marth sat up a little straighter. "I hope you're not thinking of turning around," he said forcefully. "We have to press on—otherwise there will be no point whatsoever."

"But Roy can't even stay in the back of the car…" Link protested weakly, and then yelped when Marth yanked open the glove compartment and started rifling through the contents. "Dude! You can't do that!"

"I just did," Marth said. "Roy! Get back here! I found some Dramamine!"

Roy shuffled back to the car and eyed the pill canister Marth handed him. "Please don't make me go back in the trunk again," he said miserably, wiping at his chin with his sweatshirt sleeve. "Really, I'll be fine so long as I can see out the window. Please don't make me go back there." He was pitiful.

Marth glanced sideways at Link, who shrugged. With a massive sigh, Marth stood up on the seat and hopped over the side of the car. "Fine, but only until we get to Dairy Queen. As the smallest and the youngest, you still have the duty of riding in the trunk on the way back."

"Thank you," Roy said, his voice thick with gratitude as he sank into the passenger seat, and Marth began contemplating how he would squeeze himself into the small trunk. After realizing that there was no way to make the task pleasant, he moaned and simply did it, somehow managing to draw his knees up to his chin and curling into the fetal position. Link closed the trunk on him, plunging the small space into darkness.

**xXx**

"You aren't claustrophobic at all?" Oliver clarified. "Because I know that I would've freaked out had I been locked inside a dark trunk, and I'm usually not claustrophobic at all."

The Altean raised an eyebrow. "Are you speaking from experience of any sort?"

"Sort of," was all the psychiatrist could be persuaded to say on the subject.

Marth shook his head and took a sip of the ice water Oliver had gotten him a few minutes ago when he complained that his voice was starting to go after all the explanation. "Anyway, I'm not claustrophobic. The only thing that freaks me out is heights, and that's only if I don't have my feet under me."

"So, if you were—for example—suspended by your arms and hanging several hundred feet in the air…"

"I would freak. Don't even think about it!" Marth snapped upon catching sight of the man's devilish grin.

"I would never even consider it," Oliver smirked. "Anyway, carry on."

"There isn't all that much to say from that point on, actually," Marth said evasively. "I was in the trunk for the rest of the trip, and then we got to Dairy Queen, bought some ice cream, and went home. Nothing really happened."

"You must remember that Link isn't as good of a liar as you are," the psychiatrist droned, flipping his pen in the air. "Would you like to revise your answer?"

Marth opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He made an exasperated sound through his teeth, and picked up the monologue again starting from when they had arrived at the Dairy Queen.

**xXx**

"Trunks are not meant to hold human beings," the Altean said peevishly as he tumbled out onto the parking lot asphalt the moment Roy popped the lid.

"Thanks again," Roy said quietly, and he looked much better after spending some time in the front seat. His face had returned to its usual color, at least.

"Don't mention it," Marth sighed, rolling his neck to relieve the crick. He stretched up towards the glowing Dairy Queen sign and asked thoughtfully, "Does anybody actually have any money?"

"The guy who owns the car has a twenty," Roy said, waving the bill in the air.

Marth and Link winced.

"Look, borrowing a dude's car for a few minutes is one thing," Link said slowly.

"And so is using some of his Dramamine if your best friend is vomiting at the side of the road," Marth said with a grimace. "But stealing twenty bucks in cold blood is something else. We could get in legit trouble for that."

"Chill. He's got, like, a thousand dollars in here," Roy insisted, sticking his head back into the glove compartment and pulling out a small, silver case. "He'll never miss a twenty."

"Oh my gosh, give me that," Marth gasped, snatching the case and flipping the top open, revealing multiple piles of cash. From the way his mouth had dropped open and his eyes had grown wide, the other two knew he was onto something good.

"What?" Roy demanded breathlessly.

"This is the missing money from the tournament two days ago," Marth breathed unbelievingly. "I heard some of the treasurers talking about it. Apparently about a thousand bucks went missing from the ticket collection booths—the numbers between ticket sales and prices didn't match up." He looked up at his two friends. "We just busted a robbery."

Roy's response to this revelation was to snatch another twenty out of the box. "I say we celebrate with ice cream, how about you guys? Not like they'll miss it, right?"

Marth and Link were still staring down at the box with awestruck expressions.

"Can you believe this just happened?" Link whispered.

Marth snapped out of it. "Fortune favors the brave," he quipped before stashing the tin underneath the passenger seat and following Roy and his forty bucks into the Dairy Queen.

Several blizzards, multiple ice-creams, and one telling-off from the clerk for blasting the convertible radio too loud, the three Melee fighters reluctantly pulled out of the parking lot. The three drove through the drive-through a final time with Roy perched on the hood instead of stuffed in the trunk.

Marth reached over to crank up the radio again the minute they were out of the parking lot, and then accepted his eighth custard cup from Link, who was sorting out the final helping of ice cream.

"Eat fast," the Hylian suggested as he handed Roy three containers, which the red-headed boy set about devouring. "Because you're going back in the trunk."

Roy shrugged and applied himself to his sundae.

**xXx**

Oliver chucked his pen onto the desk and ran his hands though his hair. "I would never believe this if Link and Roy hadn't told me the exact same thing," he groaned. "I swear, only _you_…

"

Marth shrugged. "Basically, the only thing that happened after that was Link accidentally scraping the paint off the side of the car when he almost ran into a Discovery. We went back, talked to some staffers, and helped bust the guy who was trying to steal. I think his name was Edward."

"It was Edmund," Oliver said though his hands. "Edmund Mann. I looked it up to make sure you weren't pulling my chain. He was fired for attempted thievery and had to serve some community service hours."

"See? There you go," Marth said, propping his feet up on the couch. "Unless you want to hear about later that night were we caused a bit of a toilet mishap in graphic detail?"

"I heard about that from Roy, unfortunately," Oliver sighed, tapping his pen on the desk as he skimmed over his notes. "And it was very graphic."

"So…can I go now?" Marth asked, standing up and stretching his arms over his head. "I think we're done, aren't we?"

"Nope, sit back down," the psychiatrist said, and Marth sat, albeit reluctantly. "And listen to me—this is important."

Marth raised an eyebrow skeptically and said sarcastically, "Let's hear your glorious gem of wisdom then. Don't keep me waiting another minute."

"You're not invincible."

The Altean reclined in the sofa. "I know that."

"No, you don't. You're a teenager," Oliver said plainly. "You might be aware that something bad could happen, but you don't stop to think about it. You assume it won't happen to you, because you're too important, or too talented…Or even too lucky, it doesn't matter."

"Look, with respect, I'm a lot more physically skilled than most," Marth replied coolly. "A lot of scenarios that would normally be dangerous aren't dangerous for me. I think I know how to take a risk, Doctor."

"Tell me," Oliver snapped, his tone suddenly icy as he leaned across the desk to look Marth in the eye. "How would your superior physical condition or your reasoning skills help you if you got flung out of a convertible going sixty miles an hour on the highway?"

"I was wearing a seat—"

"Roy wasn't," Oliver said quietly, and that made Marth pause. "You need to _think_ about this before you do crazy things. Life isn't fair, and it delights in irony."

Marth didn't have a smarmy line to insert, so he remained silent.

"And it doesn't always just hurt you," Oliver went on harshly. "It's one thing to endanger yourself knowingly—it's completely different to put a friend in harm's way. Imagine what would happen if something had happened to Roy."

Marth suddenly found himself unable to meet the psychiatrist's intensely bright green eyes, so he looked down at the rug instead, biting the inside of his cheek.

"Do you understand?" Oliver asked quietly.

"Yes Sir," Marth replied stiffly as he stood up from the sofa. "It won't happen again. We were fifteen and thirteen years old. It's a given that we're going to do some stupid things. Besides, we weren't under your jurisdiction then, so it's not like you could punish us anyway."

"Kid, you never stop doing stupid things," Oliver said wearily. "Go on, be off with you, I've made my point. Just remember that you're under my jurisdiction now and I will be keeping a closer eye on you in light of past and recent events."

"Of course," Marth said, finding himself almost unconsciously directing a sort of bow in the psychiatrist's direction. Frowning slightly, he made for the door. Guiltily, almost as an afterthought, he tacked on "Thank you for the advice."

He pulled the door shut behind him and leaned his shoulders back against it, tilting his head back to look up at the ceiling.

Roy and Link were hiding around the corner, and poked their heads out when they saw that Marth was alone.

"Did he buy it?" Link asked under his breath, as they were unsure how soundproof Stoelhart's door was. Marth nodded, and then allowed himself a sly smirk as he enjoyed the thrill of getting away with something. The buzz was heightened by their opponent: it felt amazing to have finally outsmarted the resident internet-ghost psychiatrist.

When Link had first been called down early that morning, he had been quick to round up Roy and Marth as soon as he had been released and told them what he had been forced to tell Stoelhart. He explained that he had spoken of the events leading up to the incident, and the events afterwards that had, in a very round-about sort of way, resulted in the arrest of a certain Edward Mann. Regretfully, he explained that he had been too pressured to risk leaving out or altering any of that basic information that Oliver probably already had access to via staff files and newspaper articles. He was proud to insist that he had managed to evade discussion of the actual events between when they had left Dairy Queen and when they had arrived back in Melee stadium, and thought that Oliver had bought his story that nothing eventful had happened.

Roy came back later that morning saying that he had given Oliver the exact same information—omitting the embarrassing details of the events in-between Dairy Queen and home. All Marth had to do was stick to the story and Oliver would still remain in the dark. It had been more than a little unnerving to walk into the forever-smiling man's office with the full intent to lie to his face, but it had turned out alright.

"Yes!" Roy cried as soon as they were definitely out of earshot. "We are so gooood!"

"Do you realize how much trouble we'll be in if he ever figures it out, though?" Link asked breathlessly. "I mean, there were cops. Chasing us. Across Iowa. Through a cornfield. At midnight. And you were high."

"On adrenaline," Marth inserted hurriedly. "Roy was the only…"

"And singing," Link continued regardless. "In Japanese. In my ear. Shrilly."

"Wasn't it Korean?" Roy asked.

"No, it was a Japanese cover of a Korean song. Trust me, it's been painfully etched into my auditory memory."

"Oh. Well…I was close."

"I vote we all celebrate the brief calm we created before the storm," Marth announced with a clap of his hands.

"Brief calm?" Roy asked skeptically. "Dude, you can relax." He socked Marth's shoulder. "We completely avoided the storm. The plan worked! It's all fine!"

Marth was shaking his head. "No, he'll find out if he's set on it. He's not the sort to just let things go. There isn't anything we can do to stop him. We may have avoided it for now, but it's going to come back and bite us in the butt, probably in a very embarrassing and freaky way."

"You're totally paranoid!" Roy insisted, and then caught sight of Link's nervous expression. "You both are!" He danced down the hallway, beckoning to the two of them. "It's in the past! We decided we'd never tell anybody about that night two years ago. We aren't about to change for a psychiatrist, no matter how good he is. Now _come on,_ you sissies."

As Marth and Link reluctantly started to follow him, Roy crossed his arms over his chest and argued, "It's not like Stoelhart could ever find out what happened anyway. Everybody involved either is in prison, no longer works here, or is a member of the police. He'd have to have police file access to even get a vague idea of what happened—so you can stop worrying. I'm serious. We're FINE."

**xXx**

Oliver Stoelhart had finished harmonizing his notes and was on his computer, running internet searches on anything including the keywords 'convertible,' 'Edmund Mann,' and the date the incident had occurred. He had found little, but that was expected. What he did find led him to a small county in Iowa, and within about ten minutes he had found his way into the county's confidential police archives and was looking around for the search option. Police files were a nightmare to look through unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. The date alone was a pretty poor starting place. He scrolled through archived data, tapping his pen impatiently against the desk. His eyes barely glanced at each report before moving onto the next one, although he did pause for a moment at one that was labeled as 'teens involved in shootout.' Because this sounded sort of plausible, he clicked on it. And immediately closed it when he realized that the children involved were African-American, and all of the boys were—for all intents and purposes—Caucasian. Beginning to get a little frustrated, he continued scrolling, and eventually found an article that looked much more promising. Making a note of the fact that it was quite possible somebody at the database had noticed that the system was being hacked by now, he quickly opened the file and discovered that it detailed some sort of high-speed chase of a convertible driven by one underage teen with up to two similarly aged passengers. There were pictures of several wrecked cop cars, although no pictures of the suspects. The report indicated that they had ditched and remained unidentified. The report stated that drugs or alcohol may have been involved. Oliver groaned as his hunch was confirmed. There had been nothing in any of the boys' stories about a cop chase or _drugs_, and these weren't things you just 'forgot' to mention.

The psychiatrist was contemplating potential punishments as he skimmed over the article and noticed that there was a little video icon displayed in the margin. He smirked despite himself and clicked on the play triangle.

"There we go," Oliver Stoelhart said brightly. And then couldn't suppress a laugh as he watched the events unfold through a camera mounted on the dashboard of one of the pursuing cop cars.

That was the problem with these hero types, he thought to himself absently. They never know how to do anything quietly. Everything must be huge and fantastic and absolutely unforgettable.

…Actually, it might just be a teenage-boy problem. He never saw Zelda or Peach pulling off crazy stunts like this.

**xXx**

**AN: Epic troll. You thought I was actually going to explain the whole thing. There were people who wanted the incident explained and people who didn't, so I decided do both. The events explained make up about 30% of the whole incident, and there really weren't drugs involved—that was just a red herring.**

**Like I said, not as happy with this one, but maybe it's just because I've been working on it so long. Thanks to _STKB_ for giving me a talking-to. XD I feel much better about it. **

**Edmund Mann was actually a really horrible pun I stole from a Dilbert book: the random guy's full name is Edmund Lester Mann. He's an Ed Les Mann. It was awful, which is why I didn't explain it. **

**Anyway, thanks to all the people who gave me links to art, although with the exception of _Chickyoudon'tknow_, none of them were really Game art. They were just Brawl art. Because I guess I didn't specify this, I'll still do the requests for the people who gave me links and stuff, but from now on you'll need to show/make me something specifically about the Game (not just something that reminded you of it) to get the free request or oneshot. It's not that I don't appreciate these links—usually they make me laugh hysterically and by all means keep giving me them, but I don't think they really constitute as 'fanart,' y'know?**

**Please review!**


	51. Chapter 51: Strings

**Oh. My. Gosh. I AM SO SORRY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING! *facedesk of failure* My internet conked out, I nearly bombed my math final, I got sick (twice), my cat decided to bite my face, I cut my foot open, I joined stage crew, I got addicted to Tiger&Bunny (if you haven't watched that yet, WATCH IT NOW. It's on Hulu. It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen), I got dragged into an argument that had the drama equivalent of a Spanish soap opera….Life's been insane lately. You have no idea how glad I've been to have this fic to sit down to work on whenever I've had a bad day. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to update due to lack of internet. Fortunately, I've got three chapters mostly written, which will hopefully be published in the next week or so. With that, I believe a ton of thanks are in order:**

**Thanks to _STKB_; Have I mentioned how much your review helped me out of the ditch? It was awesome. ~ Thanks to _blooddrippedcupcake_; Oliver is not an easy person to tease. He has a habit of retaliating. ~ Thanks to _BoshiBasher555_; YES. That is all. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; XD Remind me that somebody needs to buy DQ for Ollie. ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; GO IOWA! XD ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; I'm bad at consistency when it comes to updating. We're linked souls. ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee;_ Probably. Maybe it did blow up. XD ~ Thanks to _Lunar Clockwork_; Epic username. And Peach'll pop up soon. ~ Thanks to _Kalyz Lowell_; MAAARTH! Yes. XD I love him. ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; I think you mean Star Trek. :3 It's coming up in the new few chapters, don't worry. ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; Aaaahh…your review invigorated me, as per the usual. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr_; I finally got Skyward Sword. And it is awesome. XD ~ Thanks to _Rachel Ray Wolf_; I took your sadistic preferences into account. Pit gets busted up in this thing (and I know exactly what you mean XD). ~ Thanks to _TheOracleOfTime_; YEEESSS! I'm glad you're still with us. ~ Thanks to _powdergame99_; Thank you so much! WOOOOT! ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; Thank you so much. The punishment's going to pop up…in the third chapter after this, I think. Or maybe after the arc…I'm not sure. XD ~ Thanks to _RawkHawk2.0_; I agree. ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; You had an experience like that? *jealous* ~ Thanks to F_ullmetalWizard1995_; Thanks. I'm glad you were entertained. ~ Thanks to _Sogo_; Oh yes. Magic box, my friend. ~ Thanks to _piplupfan580;_ Kids are awesome. ~ Thanks to_ seqka711_; ELFQUEEEEST! I'm looking forward to seeing your drawing. ~ Thanks to _Tune4Toons_; Indeed I shall. ~ Thanks to _TheGameBoy;_ Maybe I will, we'll see. ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; Ah, see, the brawl stadium is somewhere on the border, which is near Seattle, and the melee stadium was in Illinois, which is how they got to Iowa. Hope that clears things up. XD ~ Thanks to _Excellion Arbiter_; Looking forward to working with you. :) ~ Thanks to _MEAM-neko n.n_; There probably were some explosions… ~ Thanks to _Hitomi Kogure_; XD WooT! Fanart FTW! ~ Thanks to the ever wonderful _angel_; I still have yet to make Quince/Nya and Pit/Angel do a double-date. XD ~ Thanks to _Brightvale Lucy_; Thank you soooo much! I love the feedback. ~ Thanks to _Nintendnerd_; I always do that! Thank you so much. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Eclypse13_; I have an OC named Eclipse…awkward….Thanks so much. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _MusicRockerz_; Smarthus makes the world go round. XD I love finding people who like the things I do! ~ And a final thanks to _Linira_; YESSS! Totally doing that.**

**Oh my gosh. Would you believe I had two and a half pages of review to tramp through? That was incredible. Several things: (a) OH MY GOSH THIS STORY HAS _97_ FAVES. THAT IS RIDICULOUSNESS I LOVE YOU ALLLLLL! (b) AAAAAAAGH! IT'S BEEN OVER A YEAR SINCE THIS CRAZINESS BEGAN. WHERE THE HECK DOES THE TIME GO!**

**Seriously now, I am so thankful for the opportunity to mature as a writer through this story. These teenagers have alternately mirrored my life or allowed for a miraculous escape from it. Not to mention that the support I've gotten for it is unparalled by anything else I've ever written. It's been an indescribable ride, and I'm so glad to have shared the ups-and-downs of it all with so many awesome people. Hopefully it will continue for a long time yet, ne?**

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me; including all of the songs and video game references (Skyward Sword is amazing). **

**Without further ado, please read, enjoy, and review!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 51: Strings**

"Hey Sheik," Marth called across the arena, swinging his sword in a wide arc to hold back a charging Bowser. When she didn't even pause, he shouted louder. "Sheik!"

"I'm sort of busy at the moment!" she barked back, flipping into the air over Kirby's head and sending a flurry of needles its way, forcing it back into a defensive position. She whirled back around and flicked an extra needle in Marth's direction. He spun and swatted it out of the air. Annoyed, she snapped, "What is it, princess?"

The crowd had somehow managed to pick up Sheik's last sentence through some luckily placed microphone and all laughed in unison, causing Marth to scowl. He took out his frustration by slamming a two-handed strike into Bowser's side, finally flinging the giant beast off of the platform. They were playing a timed match, so Bowser would undoubtedly be back up onto the stage in a few minutes. A point did pop up beside Marth's name on the scoreboard though. The crowd roared, and Marth ducked under Sheik's leg and managed to jab Kirby on his next swing. They were playing an endurance tournament, with the winner of each group of four advancing to the next round. This was the second round.

"And Kirby's hit again! Marth's been doing exceptionally well in this round!" Angel shouted over the loudspeaker system. "Come on—he's a scrawny kid! You can take him, Bowser! Go go go!"

"What is it?" Sheik asked again, tumbling out of the way as Bowser launched himself back into the fray.

"So I was playing Skyward Sword," the Altean said calmly, pirouetting to avoid Kirby's kick and leaping to avoid the oncoming hammer swing. He backtracked, both literally and rhetorically, skipping backwards a few steps and throwing up his sword to block a second barrage of needles. ("That takes skill, I'll give the drunkard that," Angel admitted.) "I know you're not in it—no need to glare at me like that."

"I wasn't worried about that," Sheik replied, sidestepping Bowser's sweeping hand. "I was just wondering why we're having this conversation now, in the middle of a fight. That's all."

"Ah." Marth leapt up into the air and sliced at Bowser's back, knocking the giant thing aside. The crowd roared approval. Kirby immediately engaged the downed Bowser, leaving Marth face to face with Sheik, momentarily undistracted. "Because the idea just occurred to me," he said, his voice still remarkably steady and light despite the fact that they were six minutes into the ten-minute fight and he was now ducking and weaving in-between Sheik's flailing limbs, trying to find an opening for a sword slash. "You are aware that your harp is in Skyward Sword, right?"

"That's where it originated, yeah," Sheik answered, avoiding the wide slash and countering with a kick, which also missed. "Dude, you've only had the game for a month. How far are you?"

"Truthfully, I'm stuck at the first trial. Link's stamina in the game is wretched. I think Ganondorf can run for longer periods of time than he can. But I'm specifically interested in your harp."

"What about it?"

Marth dodged a flying Kirby, and subsequentially was unable to block Sheik's next kick.

"YES!" Angel crowed, punching the air up in the operations booth.

Marth tumbled backwards, and was immediately kicked across the stage by Bowser. The crowd shouted for Sheik to finish it—Marth was the only one of the three who hadn't fallen yet—and she gladly obliged, flying high up into the air and coming down just as Marth tried an aerial recovery move—which turned out to be a bad idea on his part. He went flying hard into the safety net and had a long fall to the bottom. When he appeared at the top of the stage a few minutes later, he appeared to be injured, and while he leapt back into the fight with his same enthusiasm, his conversation was restricted to the usual hissed curse words and grunts. Angel had noticed, and stopped making fun of him.

By the time the fight had ended, Marth had lost the first place to Sheik, who would continue to the finals. He disappeared immediately afterwards, so she didn't get a chance to ask him why he had been interested in the harp. Truth be told, she had never thought much of it. It was just a harp to her. It had been a shock when the old timeline had been uncovered and it was revealed that her harp was actually much more significant that it appeared.

In the end, Link had stolen the final fight, much to the approval of the crowd. Sheik had come in third overall, after Snake, who had gotten his hands on a smash ball and had essentially massacred everybody else in the last two minutes of the fight, moving from fourth place all the way up to second. Snake's brilliant comeback and Pit's injury in the first round (he had gotten hit in the face with a baseball bat and had to be taken to the infirmary) were the highlights of the tournament.

Ike was waiting by the door when Sheik came out from the locker room, and ruffled her hair affectionately by way of greeting.

"Why're you so cozy all of a sudden?" she asked, grabbing his hands as he moved away.

"I can't help it," Ike said with a grin. "You're so little and cute."

She twisted his wrist.

"Agh! Bad choice of words!" he remedied hastily, pulling his hand out of hers. "You're big and scary and a formidable opponent—I dare not touch you again for fear of losing my hand."

"Heck yes," Sheik said, tossing her bangs out of her eyes. But then she hugged him, and was happy when he hugged her back. "By the way…"

"Hm?" Ike asked, his voice muffled by her sweatshirt sleeve.

"Don't read anything into this, it's nothing weird. Do you know where Marth went? He started to ask me something in the arena, but he never told me what it was about."

Ike, to his credit, didn't even bat an eye. He glanced up at the ceiling, and then snapped his fingers as he remembered. "Last I saw, he was in the infirmary. Something with his shoulder."

"Jeezum, not him too. Pit was bad enough. Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine," Ike shrugged nonchalantly. "It's not his dominant arm. But the doctors will be freaking out—you know how they get. He's probably still stuck in there; if you want to go spring him, I'm sure he'd be happy."

"Awesome, thanks," Sheik said as she disengaged from Ike and started off down the hallway.

"Hey Sheik?"

She turned on her heel, a questioning expression on her face.

"You ever see the Matrix?" Ike asked. "It's by the Wachowski brothers. The same guys who did V for Vendetta."

"Never seen it," Sheik said dully. "It's supposedly epic though, right?"

"I rented it," Ike said smugly. "Want to watch it tonight, koala? The plot's pretty mind-blowing."

"I'm game if you are," Sheik agreed. "Catch you later."

"Girl, I'm already caught," Ike laughed as she ran off down the hallway. "See you later."

**xXx**

"Come to mock me in my pitiful state?" Marth grumbled when Sheik poked her head into the infirmary. He wasn't in a cot, but was instead sitting on a bench against the wall, dressed in civilian clothing, and generally looking miserable. His headphones were hanging around his neck and blaring what sounded like dubstep. "Your lovely kick dislocated my shoulder, thanks a bleepin' bunch."

"Did they pop it back in?"

"Yep," the Altean said, popping the 'p.' "And it sucked. It still hurts. I've been encouraged not to try anything fancy with my left arm for a while. I'm assuming you're here about the harp, right?"

"Yeah," Sheik said, leaning up against the railing of an uninhabited cot. "What was with that?"

"Alright, so I was playing Skyward Sword, right? And I get your magic harp-y thing because Zelda chucked it to me rather than just letting me kill the Orochimaru-wannabe Ghirham—"

"You're making no sense. I have no idea who these people are."

Marth lifted his headphones up to his head and started playing with the volume. "Fine. The point is, I have this harp now in the game, and it sounds epic. But the Wii mechanism doesn't actually let you play it; all you're doing is swinging the remote back and forth. It's annoying. I want to learn how to actually play it. First I thought to ask Link, but he's from the Twilight Princess era of Hyrule, so he wouldn't know. You're the only one who'd actually know how to do it. And then I remembered that Ike gave you a harp for Christmas…"

"Harpsichord. Difference."

"Whatever. The point is, I want to learn. Would you be willing to teach me?"

"Sorry, don't think so," Sheik sighed.

"Come on. I taught you to dance."

"It's not that. A: a harpsichord is different than a harp. I'd need a harp to teach you."

"One is being brought. Was there a B?"

Sheik blinked, thrown off subject by his statement. "What?"

Marth shrugged nonchalantly, and then winced and rubbed at his shoulder. "You know how the Nintys get when we're hurt. They'll get anything you want, short of the world on a platter. I asked for a functioning harp like the one in Skyward Sword."

"You're really serious about this," Sheik commented. "Why?"

He paused before replying, and when he did reply, he did so with a question of his own. "Why do you enjoy playing the harp? You seemed so excited when Ike gave the harpsichord to you."

"It wasn't a scarf," Sheik said neutrally.

"We both know that's not it," Marth snapped, blue eyes flashing. "_I _didn't give you a scarf, and you weren't happy. And while I suppose you would have been happy with anything _Ike_ gave you, you seemed particularly ecstatic about this. Why? Come on; indulge the boy with the broken arm."

"I'm starting to wish I had really broken it," Sheik said, resisting the urge to thwack Marth's forehead. "It reminded me of home, okay? I liked having a piece of Hyrule with me."

"Me too, but with Altea, obviously, not Hyrule." Marth nodded, pleased that he had been correct. "I remember minstrels at court playing the harp." He lifted his headphones pointedly. "And I enjoy listening to music from home, and thought it would be neat if I learned how to create some of my own. Like you."

"You're listening to _dubstep_," Sheik felt the need to point out.

"There's some good music on Earth as well," he acquiesced with a grin. Apparently he was starting to feel more like himself.

"Don't know if I'd call_ that _music," she said dryly.

"Please. It beats rap."

"Touché."

At that moment, Oliver Stoelhart walked into the infirmary, carrying a harp and a clipboard under his arm. He smiled to himself when he saw Sheik leaning up against the cot, as if something had just made sense.

"How's the arm?" the psychiatrist asked, clapping Marth's uninjured shoulder. "You look much better."

"Sir, why are you the one giving Marth the harp?" Sheik asked, honestly confused. "I thought that would just be a job for some random staffer."

"It usually would be, but I was the only one who remembered where this thing was," Stoelhart said with a carefree smile. "Not to mention I wanted to make sure his shoulder was staying where I put it. Occasionally it pops back out after a bit, but it seems to be staying." Again, he smiled. "I'm not very good at that kind of thing."

"I've dislocated my shoulder before," Marth said peevishly. "It's never popped back out."

"Wait, what?" Sheik blurted, waving a hand in-between the two of them. "_You_ put his shoulder back in? You're a _psychiatrist_."

"I know basic first aid." Oliver looked surprised that she hadn't known this, although it was hardly a common fact. "Besides, the majority of the doctors were busy with Pit. You know the poor kid's nose is broken? I suppose this should teach him not to walk into the path of a baseball bat again, especially when Ganondorf is holding it." He pulled a sympathetic face, and then shrugged in an 'oh well' sort of way. "But anyway, most of them were occupied, and it seemed wrong to leave Marth in pain when I could fix it."

Shiek shot an incredulous look in Marth's direction, but he was industriously avoiding eye contact and holding his hands out for the harp in a gesture of 'gimmie.' Oliver passed it over to him, and the Altean plucked a few strings idly, and then leaned back up against the wall, favoring his shoulder, and said "Shoo. You're not conductive to my learning environment."

Sheik plopped herself down on the edge of the bench, still giving Marth an unbelieving look as Oliver rolled his eyes and left. Marth continued to pluck at the strings, managing through pure trial and error to string together the notes of 'happy birthday.'

"So, I'm assuming you have next to no musical knowledge?" she asked after realizing that Marth would not be willing to elaborate on the previous subject. "So if I start giving you specific string names, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about, right?"

"Please, I had to learn how to play some sort of instrument as a child," Marth chided, now trying to pluck out what sounded like the Glascow Love Theme. His fingers were incorrectly positioned on the strings, but Sheik decided not to point this out right away. "Unfortunately," he said as he stumbled across another wrong note. "The instrument I chose to learn was not a harp. So yes. No string names."

Sheik rolled her eyes and wrenched the lyre from him, expertly playing through a minor chord. "Fine, we'll work with what we've got. You'll just have to guesstimate where the right string should be, seeing as if I waste time with a bunch of notes, we'll get nowhere."

"I'm down with that," Marth agreed easily, shifting his position a little on the bench. "Show me what I'm doing wrong. I want to learn how to play your Ballad of the Goddess."

"I don't know the song," Sheik admitted, shaking her bangs from her face again. "I'm not from Skyward Sword, idiot. We've been through this."

"I think it's Zelda's lullaby backwards," Marth deadpanned, stealing the harp back and crudely strumming out the basic melody.

"So Zelda's lullaby was basically the Ballad of the Goddess but rearranged by a dyslexic person?"

"…I guess. Can you play it?"

Sheik scowled. "Ye of little faith! Of course I can play it. I can play anything you want me to."

"Skrillex," Marth challenged. Sheik paused, and then managed to strum out something that actually vaguely resembled one of the remixes. Marth blinked, and then laughed, falling back onto the bench, cradling his injured shoulder as he chuckled. Sheik looked down at him, torn between wanting to smack him with the harp in her hands and wanting to laugh with him.

Just as she was about to do the former, he grinned disarmingly at her and said, "Guess I picked the right girl to teach me, right?"

Sheik sighed. Now she couldn't hit him. Not when he was being decent. Instead, she dropped the harp on his stomach and snapped her fingers impatiently. "Come on, prince-boy. I've got things to do. Let's get going already."

"Of course," Marth nodded, changing gears immediately and settling into a cross-legged position. "Now I want you to correct me if I'm doing anything wrong. Where do you want me to start?"

**xXx**

Pit blinked up into hospital lights and winced as somebody loomed into his vision. The angel raised a hand to shield his eyes, and the figure's face split into a grin.

"You're okay?" the person asked.

"I think so…" Pit said slowly, raising himself up onto his elbows and squinting down at his tunic, which was spattered with blood near the neckline. After staring at that for a few moments and realizing that he didn't know how it had gotten there, he looked up at the person standing over the cot, who turned out to be Quincy. "Jeez….What the heck happened, Quince?"

"You walked into a baseball bat," the pokemon trainer explained with a giggle. "Held by Ganondorf. I think Link described the incident as 'spectacular.' Lots of blood, lots of paramedics—according to the other guys, the same thing happened to Ike about year ago though, so don't feel too bad about it."

"I feel like my face was run over by a cement truck," Pit confessed, sagging back against the pillows. "…How does it look?"

"It looks like you've got a broken nose," Quincy said bluntly. "Which is okay, since you do. The doctors set it and say it's going to be okay, but apparently you're going to need to wear a dorky head-mask whenever you brawl for a few weeks."

Pit probed his face cautiously and yelped when his hand brushed against a piece of plastic across the bridge of his nose and triggered a rush of pain. Quincy smacked his hand away urgently. "Don't do that!"

"So who won the tournament then?" Pit asked simply to change the subject, swinging his legs over the side of the gurney and attempting to stand. He made it about three-quarters of the way across the room before stumbling. He staggered and caught himself on the wall, bashing one of his wings against the metal railing. He whirled around to look at Quincy. "What's wrong with me?"

"You suffered a serious head injury," Quincy recited, repeating what the doctors had told him. "You're going to be a bit disorientated for a while. Also, you could aggravate the injury if you get whacked in the head again, hence your headgear." The pokemon trainer grinned as if he were enjoying himself. "You look pretty bad," he admitted. "Girls dig that, apparently. Link won the tournament, to answer your question earlier, but Snake came really close."

Pit blinked, trying to dislodge the fuzzy film that was clouding his vision. "Did I get a concussion?"

"Um, duh."

Pit nodded shakily and started maneuvering his way back to the cot. After catching himself on the edge, he forced a smile and asked, "What time is it?"

Quincy shrugged. "Late. You missed lunch."

"It's three-twenty," Dr. Stoelhart said as he came through the pneumatic doors, tucking a cell phone into his pocket. "How're you feeling, kid? Any memory issues that you're immediately aware of, or are you just sort of disorientated?"

"I think just disoriented. I feel okay," Pit said, leaning the majority of his weight up against the cot. He laughed weakly. "It _would_ be me."

"Have the boys told you that Ike did the exact same thing earlier this year?" Oliver asked. Pit nodded, and Oliver pulled the phone back out of his pocket to glance at something on the screen. He pulled a face, and turned partially away as he answered the call, speaking in what sounded like Japanese. Quincy raised an eyebrow, but Pit was still too dazed to really be curious.

"Um, Doctor…?" he hazarded in Stoelhart's direction. "I have a potential brain issue."

"_Mata denwa shimasu, gomenasai_," Oliver said curtly into the phone, cutting off the conversation before snapping it shut and turning to face Pit again, his green eyes sparking. "What's up?"

Pit stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around, but it didn't change anything. "…Do you hear music…? Or is it just me?"

Oliver laughed, and Quincy looked relieved as he explained, "No, it's not just you. The teenagers have been jamming out with this antique harp all afternoon."

"Oh," Pit sighed. "Because it's not very good."

"You should have heard them when it was just Marth and Sheik. Now that the other kids have joined in, they've gotten much more…raucous."

The angel pulled an incredulous face. "…What _are _they singing…?" he asked after a minute.

"…The Proclaimers, I believe," Oliver said, his voice tinged with a note of incredulity as well as he looked curiously at the infirmary doors. "It's a Scottish band."

"That'd explain the cheesy accents," Quincy said thoughtfully.

Pit winced, and grabbed at his forehead. "Sorry," he said apologetically when Oliver and Quincy each grabbed one of his shoulders and stopped him from collapsing completely. "I just have a killer headache. Can I go to bed? Like in my room? Where it's dark?"

"Of course," the psychiatrist said soothingly and began steering Pit towards the door. "We'll get you off to bed."

As they walked towards the exit, the music started becoming more coherent. It was enthusiastic and blaring and—oddly enough—recognizable. Pit and company limped out through the pneumatic doors to see Marth and Sheik and perhaps four other teenagers dancing around in the hallway, belting out the lines to 'I Would Walk 500 Miles' in completely fake Scottish accents, occasionally linking arms or throwing one another into the air, all of them red-faced and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Marth was strumming the strings on his new harp and was somehow making it sound remarkably like a guitar, Sheik had found a cowbell from who-knows-where and was clanging that for lack of a cymbal, and the others were stomping their feet and clapping rhythmically to substitute in for the drums.

Oliver burst out laughing as the teenagers burst into the chorus and broke out with the back-and-forth 'da-da da da!'s, and then yelped "No!" and tried to pull away as Link and Roy both grabbed him by the shirt collar and tugged him into the mayhem. He staggered out of the circle and swatted away further attempt to draw him back in, yanking down on his shirt and shouting "Pit's got a headache!"

"Is he okay?" Samus asked as she linked elbows with Ike and twirled in a circle.

"He needs quiet!" Oliver insisted.

"Says the guy shouting at us," Roy sang smugly.

Oliver threw his hands in the air and spun back around, caught the longing look on Quincy's face, rolled his eyes and jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the musical chaos behind him. "Go for it, I'll take care of the kid."

Quincy beamed, clapped his friend apologetically, and dashed off into the group.

Oliver waited until he and Pit had rounded the corner before scooping up the small boy into his arms, walking briskly down the hallway and smiling to himself as the sound dissipated the further away they got from the infirmary.

"I'm sure Quincy wasn't trying to ditch you," he said down to Pit, who was half-out-of-things again and staring glassily up at the ceiling.

"I know," the angel said fuzzily. "If my nose weren't busted and my brain not swollen, I'd join in too."

"If I didn't have to ferry you to your room, maybe I would too," Oliver replied, kicking open the unlatched door to Pit's bedroom as his hands were full.

"Sorry," Pit whimpered as the psychiatrist set him down gently onto the mattress.

"It's fine," Oliver said with a smile, helping Pit snuggle underneath the covers. "I don't mind. Just focus on resting for awhile, okay?"

"'Kay," Pit echoed softly, burrowing into his pillow as Oliver Stoelhart flicked off the light switch and left the room, latching the door behind him.

**xXx**

"But I would walk five-hundred miles, and I would walk five-hundred more—just to be the man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door…!"

"Dada da da!" Marth hollered, spinning around and raking his fingertips across the stings of his makeshift guitar.

"Dada da da!" everybody else echoed.

"Dada da da!"

"Dada da da!" came the echo.

"Dada dum dada dum dada dum dada da da da! Dada da da! Dada da da! Dada dum dada dum dada dum dada da da da…! "

It was spontaneous—nobody knew why they had started singing. It was loud and obnoxious—nobody besides Zelda and maybe Sheik could really claim to be any sort of decent singer. It was improvised—none of the instruments were genuine. But it was still somehow beautiful. It was still musical. It was still unbelievably fun.

Spontaneity was part of the package when you lived in the Brawl stadium. Everybody lived for moments like these.

**xXx**

Oliver Stoelhart was walking back to his office by himself, hands stuffed into the pockets of his slacks. It had been a good day—profits from the tournament were at an all-time high. Pit seemed to be alright, despite taking a large chunk of wood to the face. The teenagers were entertaining themselves in a non-destructive way. Nobody had tried to kill anybody today. But that shard of sadness was still there, as it always would be.

Ike and Sheik came waltzing around the corner—apparently the little jam session had ended—Ike holding a DVD case, Sheik holding a bowl of popcorn. They brushed past Oliver without comment, and he shrugged to himself as they continued off down the hallway. Under his breath, the psychiatrist hummed the finals verse to the song they had been singing.

"_When I'm lonely, yes I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you. When I'm dreaming, well I know I'm gonna dream, I'll be dreaming about the time when I'm with you." _

**xXx**

**AN: So this chapter was essentially a culmination of everything flying through my head for the past week or so…XD Plus Oliver gushiness because after…what…I don't even know when he first popped up in here X_x…After however long he's been around, I FINALLY figured out the nitpicky details of his backstory. Woot. But he's been trained in first-aid. :) And don't worry, he's still planning revenge on the boys, he just hasn't gotten around to it. Being a psychiatrist and the only sensible adult in the whole building is a busy job. XD**

**The song they were playing in the end was originally supposed to just be Sheik and Marth, and it was supposed to be something you could realistically play on a harp, but then I got the 500 Miles thing stuck in my head for three days straight and thought 'what the heck.' As I said, this chapter was completely random. **

**Fanart—several of you promised me, and I'm looking forward to it. ^.^ I also have a poll up that I would appreciate anybody with three seconds of spare time checking out—it's just to see if anybody'd be interested in being involved with a contest I'm thinking about starting up. **

**Next chapter is hide-and-seek. Then I'm either going to squeeze a chapter about amusement parks (Marth's afraid of heeeeiiights~!) in there or jump straight into the arc. The arc is planned to work sort of like the last one, with two chapters beforehand (currently titled "roadtrips" and "hotels") setting the stage for the actual plot. However it shakes out, it'll be fun. Think 'Iron Man,' is all I'm saying. **

**WOOT. I missed updating this thing. XD**

**Please review! Words do not describe how happy reviews make me!**


	52. Chapter 52: Single Awareness Day

**IT'S OVER 800~! Due to a homework mishap that involved me being a procrastinator, I'm not sure if I hit the 800 mark on reviews of the previous chapter or this one…either way, WOO-HOO! **

**Thanks to _catsrae;_ I'm sort of scared of the Skyward Sword boss. The trials freak me out! ~ Thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr;_ Yeah, I wish they'd kept the graphics from TP in SS…~ Thanks to _SKTB_; Sleep! ~ Thanks to _Linira;_ You're very welcome. I'm glad your day was brightened. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; Orochimaru and Ghirahim were twins separated at birth. This is my theory of awesomeness. ~ Thanks to _Rachel Ray Wolf_; TIGER AND BUNNY. More people need to watch that anime. It's the best thing in the world. ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; You can haz an account! Where do you live where you get mosquito bites in February? O.o Where I am all the bugs die off around September. I'm thinking about restarting Inkblot, actually. Stay tuned. :) ~ Thanks to _TehGameBoy_; Smosh FTW. I love those two. They make my day on a regular basis. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; I used to be really good about updating. ;_; I don't know what happened to me… ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg85_; I heard that you get to design your own fighter in the new FE game…uber excited. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Tune4Toons_; Oh my gosh it's sooo fun! You must play Skyward Sword! ~ Thanks to _Dj-Nero_; I'm glad you're happy. And I hope you enjoyed your carrot. ~ Thanks to _musiccat19_; Ni shou Hanyue? O0o Wo ai niiiii! Ni shi na guo ren? Long live the life of nerds. ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; XD It seemed teenager-ish, yeah. ~ Thanks to _TheOracleOfTime_; Everybody thought I was dead…I'm sorry for freaking you out. ~ Thanks to _Katie_; WOOT. ~ Thanks to _Piplupfan580_; Marth is a silly person. ~ Thanks to _Iwer_the_Poe-Hunter_; Thank you so much. *ego swells* This site has done so much for my confidence…my gosh. XD ~ Thanks to _redhazekj_; I'm a person who calls everybody 'dude' as well. I KNOW THAT SONG FROM DOCTOR WHO TOO! XD Funny how that happens. It's totally not weird. :) ~ And thanks to _HyperJuggernaut_; I do put lots of emphasis on Marth's skills—I just think that practically, he'd have an advantage. XD They're all pretty equal, it just depends on who's using them. **

**So…I already did a Valentine's Day chapter focused on my main pairings, but Quincy/Nya and Pit/Angel got no love whatsoever. So I wrote about the two of them. :) Sorry if OCs aren't your cup of tea. It's mostly a filler chapter anyway. But I had fun, and I hope you enjoy reading. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, including the poem at the bottom. I ripped it off. Except for Oliver. He's mine. And Nya's mine too. :3 **

**Please read, enjoy, and review! **

**Chapter 52: Single Awareness Day**

Oliver reclined in his desk and ran a virus check on his computer. When it came up clean, he tapped a few keys and went through a complicated series of embedded links designed to fool any government monitoring, eventually arriving at his work email account. The psychiatrist scrolled through the unopened messages, mentally lamenting at the massive pile of paperwork that had piled up since he had last checked the inbox about three days ago. As he started tackling the most important items, he made a mental note to see if he could manage to get himself an assistant of some sort. Tax forms, at least, could be taken care of by a staffer.

The several psychological profile requests (mostly by Nintendo programmers who wanted to adhere to specific character's personalities in the next game installment) were a bit trickier, given that they were all technically confidential—not to mention that the profiles were essentially stacked in chaotic piles in various corners of Oliver's office, organized to a random system that someone had neglected to tell him.

He had never quite gotten around to reorganizing everything after Genevieve and her crew had torn through the room, grabbing anything they thought might be useful. Things had gotten mixed up between folders, large chunks of information had been lost, and given the craziness that had almost immediately followed, Oliver was mostly content to ignore the clutter as best as he could. Most of the information was stored in his mind anyway, and that was meticulously ordered.

He started flipping a pen absently in his left hand, twirling it in-between his fingers as he skimmed through a legal document. His phone suddenly ran, jerking him out of a daze. He snatched it up from its cradle, still twirling the pen.

"Hello? This is Nintendo Brawl, psychology department." He stopped, like he always did, just short of giving his own name. Let the person on the other end ask for it first. But the person didn't ask, she just laughed. The voice was melodic, and youthful. Oliver frowned, and the pen started to spin a bit faster in-between his fingers. He wanted to ask again, but at this point he didn't want to give out any more samples of his voice.

Apparently the woman on the other end didn't need any more than she already had. "Nice to hear you again," she said happily, with the air of someone talking to a long lost friend. "Long time no see, Jaden?"

"Who is this?" Oliver snapped, suddenly giving the phone his full attention. "There is no Jaden here. Could I redirect you to another department?"

"No, I think I've got the right one."

"Look, miss, my name isn't Jaden, so you've obviously got the wro—"

"What is your name then?" the woman challenged.

"…Gavin," he lied easily. "Gavin Brooks. You've got the wrong number. Let me give you the number to our help desk, they'll patch you through to whoever you need to talk to."

"You're twirling a pen, aren't you, Jaden?"

Oliver fumbled, and the pen dropped to the floor, dotting the wood with black ink. "…No. You've got the wrong number," he said quietly, and then hung up.

He started at the phone for a few minutes before dropping back onto his desk and falling into the chair with a muttered curse. After a moment, he cursed again and got up, kicking the desk as he ran both hands through his hair. The phone rang again, but he was already shrugging on a jacket over his shirt and walking out into the hallway, making his way towards the stadium to watch the Valentine's Day tournament.

**xXx**

"Slick," Pit chortled as an angry Quincy flung himself down in the seat next to him.

"Shut up!" the pokemon trainer cried, burying his head in his arms and resisting the urge to thwack Pit in his still-healing nose.

"Real smooth," Marth teased, clapping Quincy on the shoulder as he vaulted over the seat, a bag of caramel corn in his hand, his crown and two victory laurels perched on his head. "Letting Jigglypuff beat you like that."

"Stop it!" Quincy moaned, but the two other boys could tell that he was feeling a bit better. "It's not funny!" He lifted his head just in time to catch another replay of the moment where Squirtle had been chasing down a losing Jigglypuff, only to trip over its own feet and go rolling off the edge of the stage. "…Okay," he admitted grudgingly after a moment. "It's sort of funny."

"It was hysterical," Pit corrected. "But I'm sorry you lost."

"Here, have some," Marth said, offering Pit a handful of caramel corn and settling down to watch the Mario vs. Bowser fight.

Apparently, the organizers of the Valentine's Day tournament had been more than a little frustrated to learn that none of the popular pairings had changed over the course of a year. Repeating the same battle match-ups, they insisted, was beyond boring for the audience. And so, they had hatched a new plan. Instead of matching couples against one another, they would match rivals against one another, "competing" for their partner. The most obvious matches were Mario and Bowser over Peach, and Ganondorf and Link over Zelda (which was scheduled to be the finale). But the staffers had also gotten creative, and had come up with numerous other triangles to form, such as Zelda and Sheik over Link, or Quincy versus Jigglypuff over Pikachu. There was also a 'guns' fight, with Fox, Wolf, and Snake apparently fighting for Samus, a free-for-all with the four swordsmen thrown in just for fun, and a pair-up selected by the audience which had turned out to be Marth versus Ganondorf over Peach, which nobody really understood but everybody enjoyed. Someone in the stadium had ratted out the whole Roy/Ike/Sheik love triangle, so the two boys had been forced to fight, although it was obvious that Roy threw it. Sheik had also thrown her fight, but only Link, Ike, and Zelda had noticed. Wolf, Fox, Ike, Link, Roy, Ganondorf, and poor Quincy had all ended up losing not-on-purpose, some of them more than once. Mostly, it was crazy fun, with rivals getting to fight one another with no qualms whatsoever about going too far. Lots of showing-off, name-calling, taunting, teasing, hair-pulling, clawing—basically everything that wasn't normally allowed was allowed in the name of romance.

"Hey Pit?" Angel's voice called over the loud-speaker. Bowser had just fallen off of the stage, and they were between fights, broadcasting highlights from the matches before and gearing up for the finale. "Where's my man Pit?"

"Girlfriend is calling," Quincy droned, his bad mood sweeping back in to claim him. "Go see what she wants."

Pit shot up in his seat to hover in the air. Immediately, several cameras zoomed in to focus on him, and a staffer tossed him a microphone.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"It's Valentine's Day, right?" Angel asked. She was just visible in the operations booth, wearing a red shirt that brought out the highlights in her hair.

Pit gestured around him at the mostly pink-and-red clad spectators. "Um, yeah?"

Angel's smile was visible even from the booth. "In the name of Valentine's Day, are you up for ice cream after the tournament?"

There was a unanimous uproar from the Pit-fangirl section of the stadium, where the young girls couldn't decide if they were screaming approval or death for the teenage commentator.

Pit's face had reddened, and he flitted backward a few feet in the air, obviously stunned. "…Y-yeah," he managed to stammer into the microphone after a few seconds. "I…I'd really like that."

Quincy muttered something obscene and whacked his head into the armrest of his seat. Marth shot him a concerned look, and Quincy shook his head as Pit floated back down into his seat, shifting his T-shirt so that his wings slid back inside the slits he had cut into the back.

"Hey Marth?" the angel asked breathlessly. "Did she just ask me out?"

"What do you think, Sherlock?" Marth said wryly. "Ice cream with a girl on Valentine's Day, come on. That's about the cutest way to be asked out in the world."

"I…I don't know what to think," Pit said dazedly. "I mean…it's startling, isn't it?"

"The first time, yeah," Marth said nonchalantly with a shrug.

Quincy was still glaring into his seat cushion, but Pit hardly seemed to take notice.

"Wow, I just got asked out," Pit said again, as if he couldn't believe it.

Quincy peeled his face up out of his elbow and managed to smile at his best friend. "You'd better get ready then, huh?"

"I have to get ready?" Pit yelped, his face flushing anew with confusion. "Marth! Help me! What the heck am I supposed to do? Do I have to do something? What if she asks me to kiss her—what do I do then? How do I do anything?"

Marth shrugged. "I'm trying to remember my first date, and I don't remember it being all that eventful. Just be yourself. If you don't want to kiss, she probably won't try. Just don't worry about anything and go for it."

Pit appeared to be on the verge of hyperventilation, and suddenly bolted for the exit. The two other brawlers heard him whoop as soon as he reached the hallway. Or it may have been a scream—the acoustics made it hard to tell.

"He's like that," Quincy said miserably. "As soon as Angel Fischer comes along, he turns into a total…I don't even know—teenager. Completely blows me off, like I'm not even there."

"Hormones," Marth said wisely. "I think it's endearing." He cracked a smile. "It's sort of funny to see him freaked out. Ah…I remember when Roy was like that."

Quincy scowled.

"Not to bug you or anything, but you're sort of like that too," Marth chided gently. "With Nya? The staffer? You go a bit tunnel-vision-y too, my friend."

The pokemon trainer scrunched his shoulders. "It's just a crush," he murmured. "Nothing's ever going to happen with us. She's older than me."

"So? Sam is older than me."

Quincy sighed. "Nah. I'm pretty sure Nya doesn't think of me in a romantic way at all. I mean, I think she likes me, and I think she doesn't mind hanging out, but she's probably way more interested in the older guys, like you."

"So I'm your rival in love now?" Marth said, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"I didn't mean it like that," Quincy said unhappily. "I'm not jealous or anything, I'm just not…I don't want to get my hopes up."

"She got you a hat for Christmas, didn't she? I think that says something about you and her. She didn't get anybody else a Christmas present except for you, right? Don't you think that means she's more interested in you than any of the 'older guys?'"

Quincy drew his knees up to his chest. "I know I'm being childish," he said dully. "But I'm not expecting anything from this Valentine's Day. It'll be just like the others. The holiday is only celebrated by people with something to celebrate. Everybody else just hunkers down and waits for the day to be over."

Marth rapped the pokemon trainer upside the head, knocking off his baseball cap into his lap. "You're being an idiot," the Altean said sharply. "You're fourteen, kid. It's _normal _for a fourteen-year-old boy not to have a girlfriend. It's _normal _for a fourteen-year-old boy to only have a crush. And hey, she doesn't openly despise you. Rejoice, kiddo! You're living the good life! Enjoy the moment! Do something crazy!" Marth shoved another mouthful of popcorn into his mouth. "And most of all, stop being such a downer. You're ruining my Valentine's Day buzz."

Quincy was about to respond when Samus sashayed her way through the same door that Pit had just run out of and stuck her head over Marth's seat.

"Heya," she quipped.

"Heya yourself," Marth replied, offering her up the mostly-empty popcorn bag. She grinned and rested her elbows on his shoulders, letting the pink ribbon in her hair brush against his cheek. They looked so casually…together. Relaxed. Perfect.

Quincy couldn't take it anymore. With a quiet snarl, he got up from his seat and stomped out of the stadium, leaving the roar of the crowd behind him.

It used to be so perfect. It used to be so easy. It didn't use to matter that all of the older kids were starting to dabble in the opposite sex. It was fine, and it didn't matter that Quincy had never had a girlfriend or (until recently) had barely been aware of the other gender, because Pit was equally oblivious with him. Pit was the one with charisma, Pit was the one accepted into the 'cool crowd.' Without Pit, Quincy was an outsider. He didn't have a link to the older kids the way Pit did.

He hated that he was mad at his best friend for being happy. He should be happy that Pit found a girl who liked him. Why couldn't he just be content with that?

**xXx**

"I can't believe you don't like chocolate ice cream!" Pit cried, throwing his hands into the air. "What's wrong with you?"

Angel laughed happily and licked her vanilla cone. "I don't know," she admitted. "I just don't like it." She paused. "I don't like coconut either."

Pit made a face. "Coconut is sort of nasty, not going to argue with you there."

"Your turn—truth or lie."

"Um…" Pit tried to think of something that would work. "…I saw Samus' underwear once."

"Lie!" Angel shouted, almost upsetting Pit's sundae as she slammed her palms down on the booth table. "That's got to be a lie!"

"Nope," Pit said smugly. "Totally true."

"Nu-uh."

"Yep."

"I've seen the boys' underwear before," Angel said shyly, taking a bite out of her sugar cone and accidentally getting ice cream on her nose. Pit offered her a napkin and was already shaking his head. "Lie. Such lies."

"I was on laundry duty before I was taken into broadcasting," Angel countered. "Wario wears monogrammed purple briefs."

"Everybody knows that," Pit rolled his eyes.

"Link has a pair of Batman boxers."

Pit snorted ice cream up his nose. "Seriously?"

"Seriously!" Angel laughed. "Sexy stuff."

Pit gagged down the chocolate syrup he had nearly choked on and finally succeeded in swallowing. "Okay, my turn."

The two of them were sitting alone in a corner of the cafeteria, after the tournament. Everybody was sort of worn out from the entire thing—usually tournaments that were less centered on points and more centered on performance were actually much more tiring than ones simply based on winning. It was just the two of them, and Pit was having a much easier time of things than he had hoped he would. Marth had obviously psyched him out—the girl thing really wasn't that hard.

"I once got shocked by lightning."

"True."

Pit nodded. "That was an easy one. Your turn."

"My favorite band is Passion Pit…?"

Pit blinked twice. "That sounds…erotic."

"It's not!" Angel insisted, her face flashing red. "It's weird, but not gross! Come on, who do you think I am?"

"I think you're cute."

Both of them started, Angel for obvious reasons, Pit because he hadn't actually meant to say that. He meant to volunteer another piece of information about himself, and that had come out instead.

There was a long silence, and then Angel looked down at her lap and said questioningly, "…True?"

Pit struggled for something that didn't sound cheesy, but then remembered what Marth had said about just going with it and said the first thing to pop into his head. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Angel looked at him with wide eyes, and then looked down at her ice cream cone and smiled. Pit felt his own mouth quirk into a grin as well. The girl thing was easy. Except…

"You're not going to kiss me now, are you?" he blurted, once again without thinking.

Angel rolled her eyes and crumpled up her napkin to throw at his face. "Not_ now_ you idiot! Way to ruin the moment!"

**xXx**

Quincy didn't have anything to do. He found himself walking around the hallways with Pikachu bobbing along beside him, just like the old days. He had forgotten how much he appreciated the mouse-pokemon's company. Pikachu—unlike everybody else—wasn't interested in romantic relationships. It was content to just pad around after a trainer.

He had met Nya when he was walking with Pikachu.

"—RGH!" Quincy savagely kicked a garbage can, knocking it over and spilling its contents (mostly paper) out across the floor. He glared at the mess for a minute before thinking of the poor staffer who would have to clean it up and resignedly crouching to the ground and placing all of the paper back into the waste basket.

Pikachu snuffled at his hand curiously, squeaking in a questioning tone.

"I'm okay," Quincy reassured it dully. "I'm okay." He reached out to pet the pokemon's head, and then stopped. A phrase had just tumbled into his mind, a piece of poetry. It was cheesy, and stupid, but….

_"Do something crazy."_

**xXx**

Oliver Stoelhart's phone was unplugged. He was busy; engaged in a staring match with the photograph on his bookshelf. It was of a young woman, seventeen years old in the picture, although she would be twenty-six years old now. Her hair was ivory colored, her eyes a very pale shade of blue. When he had known her, he had called her Est. Est Benignus. Latin for "is kind."

…She had called him Jaden.

He gave up, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on his hands. "Happy Valentine's Day, love," he said quietly.

There was a quiet knock on his door, and Quincy stuck his head in. "Are you busy?" he asked.

Oliver shook his head. "What's up, kid?"

"I need your help," Quincy admitted. "I'm about to do something very stupid."

Oliver smiled. "How can I help?"

**xXx**

Nya raised an eyebrow as she went to lie down in her bed. There was a piece of paper on her bed. Further examination revealed that it was a poem, written on the back of a program for the Valentine's Day tournament. It was entitled 'Valentine,' and read:

_"Torchics are red, Mudkips are blue. If you were a pokemon, I'd choose you. _

_ "You're more fun than Yellow or the Japanese-only Green, I know that you and I together would make the perfect team._

_ "Worth more than medals made out of Silver and gold, I'd drop to one knee and give you a Crystal, were I so bold._

_ "So much more precious than a Ruby or Sapphire, the look of your Emerald_"—and here there was a note: I know your eyes are brown. Bear with me, I know it's cheesy—"_eyes is all I require._

_ "Like the process of refining Diamonds and Pearls just more industrious, my love burns as bright as the sheen of Platinum, except more illustrious. _

_ "My feelings are as clear as Black and White, and I know deep down that I chose right._

_ "Except, unlike a trainer battle, I keep getting rejected"_—another note: You haven't rejected me, not really. I just think you're out of my league. Regardless…

_ "But all I can say to you is: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED."_

_ -Quincy_

**xXx**

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN. Is everything you knew about Oliver a lie? Was the woman on the phone his long-lost lover? Or somebody else who knows him as Jaden? Is Jaden his real name, or is Oliver? Or are neither real? Mwahaha. Random Oliver fact of the day: he was engaged when he was eighteen-years-old, but never married.**

**I know the poem is wince-worthy, but hey. I wrote this thing in forty minutes (there was some confusion—the poem was not written by me. I got it off of "" (yes, such a place exists.)), cut me some slack. **

**This essentially summarizes my Valentine's Day experience this year. I honestly didn't get anything good, except for a LoZ related Valentine from a fellow girl-geek, which was nice, but not really…I dunno. But then somebody gave me a virtual bouquet of roses, and my day was made. I love the people on this site—you're all amazingly nice. Thank you so much everyone. ^.^**

**Next chapter will either be the hide-and-seek that I've been saying I would do for a month, or the beginning of the arc. Not sure which at this point. XD**

**In the meantime, tell somebody you love them and please review!**


	53. Chapter 53: The Beginning Of

**Okay, some sad news coming up. Please don't make plans to kill me and read on.**

**Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Trekkiness is planned for the arc, no worries! ~ Thanks to _Lunar Clockwork_; I'm glad you liked. ~ Huge thank you to _RaymondTHEspriter_; you made my valentine's day with the flowers. ^_^ Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _STKB;_ feel free. ~ Thanks to _TheOracleOfTime_; Whoa, this is the key to happiness? O.0 I feel honored. ~ Thanks to _NinFreak95_; ^_^ Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; Haha…Ollie. And something's planned to happen with compromising positions in the arc, but it's going to be Smarthus related (oh yes). ~ Thanks to _Cardcaptornicole_; I'm really glad you liked it. ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; You, my friend, could be my clone. X_x Forever alone. But then Raymond gave me flowers! ^_^ Find people on the internetz! ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; OLIVER IS A LIE! ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; The Est thing was actually done on purpose (I love her in Shadow Dragon…), although I didn't know that Oliver was a FE character too. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; Yeeeeeaah! I'm glad that you liked it—at least you gave her a cheesy poem. Go you! ~ Thanks to _TehGameBoy_; All will be revealed at some point yet to be determined… ~ Thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr_; XD Pit and Quincy are adorable. ~ Thanks to _Linira_; Yeah, I'm sorry. X_x ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; ASLLdfksklkl….I can't believe I forgot you in the thanks section of the last one, because your review really made me happy. Agh. Anyway, thank you so much for letting me bounce ideas off of you. Thanks for being so willing to help me out all the time. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; This is completely unrelated, but do you take your name from Fullmetal Alchemist? Because I finally started watching that anime and it is amazing. ~ Thanks to _musiccat19_; I bet your story doesn't suck. Keep it up! :) Chinese is so much fun, I hope you stick with it. ~ Thanks to _BreeZaps_; 1000 reviews would be insanity… ~ Thanks to _piplupfan580_; I got a bouquet of virtual roses, a LoZ card, and lots of chocolate. ^_^ happy day. ~ Thanks to _Tune4Toons_; Maybe neither one is Oliver's real name….Mwahaha. ~ And thanks to _NintendoGamerX_; Man…Link in Batman boxers…what's sexier than that?**

**Disclaimer: Marth is not mine, but everything else in this chapter is with the exception of my muse Fang from Maximum Ride. **

**This is my second insertion chapter, and I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hope you all don't kill me. e_e Please be nice and don't flame and just hear me out, okay? I'll explain things in the AN. **

**Please read, understand, and review. ;_;**

**Chapter 53: The Beginning Of**

The end.

"What?" Marth cried, throwing his hand across the keyboard. "What do you mean 'the end?' You don't really mean 'end,' do you?"

"Yes and no?" the girl sitting at the computer said hesitantly, worming her hands underneath his arm so that she could continue tapping out the words on the old-school keyboard. "Let me finish the sentence and I'll explain, alright?"

"Explain _now_," Marth insisted, bracing himself up against the curving desk and glaring out of the window. The view was far from picturesque, with just a sliver of grey-blue water visible from between the neighbor's yellow-sided house in the birch trees that lined the property. It was a spring afternoon, and precipitation that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be snow or rain was dripping out of dreary grey clouds.

"I'll explain," the girl said, her voice stern, "When I'm done with this sentence." She jabbed a finger at the spare chair. "Feed the plot bunny if you need something to do, I think he's got a cold."

The brown rabbit sniffled pathetically in its ethereal cage, and after a moment of watching the high-schooler type and realizing that she really wasn't going to talk to him until after she finished her ridiculously long sentence, Marth sighed and shoved a potato chip through the wire mesh. Hershal immediately perked up and started nibbling at its edges.

"So, how's that sentence?"

"I'm ninety-nine percent sure it's actually a run-on," the girl said, tapping on the period key and swiveling her chair so that she could look at him. "Now what was it you wanted to ask about?"

"Honestly!" Marth threw his hands up in the air and put his feet onto the desk, carefully avoiding placing his shoes on any important papers. "You're such a space-case!"

"Only when you're trying to distract me from writing," she snapped back, clearing off a space to set down a spiral-bound notebook. "Okay, about the ending…"

"You're not ending the Game," he commanded.

"Let me explain!" she cried, slamming the notebook for effect. "This fic was never meant to continue on forever—you knew that. It was just supposed to be a springboard for my creativity whenever I hit a block and needed to write something fluffy with no thought behind it."

"Psh. Look how that worked out," said the dark-haired boy lounging in the corner of the room.

The girl made an exasperated noise and threw a pen across the room with lucky accuracy.

Marth gave her a look, and she stopped just short of throwing a sketchbook. She dropped it onto the table next to the notebook and cracked open the spiral book, flipping through college ruled pages until she stopped on a particular page.

"I wrote this down right before I finished my first arc," she said, turning the page around so that Marth could read it on the other side of the table. "It was right out then that I decided I was going to work on this fic full time, and I figured that I needed to know how I was going to end it."

"It looks like there's more than one idea," Marth pointed out, tapping the scrawled words with his index finger.

"Yeah. I figured there were three ways the Game would end, I'll explain those in a minute," she said, tossing her hair out of her eyes. "But the point is, I never intended the Game to run forever. Eventually I was going to run out of ideas. So, I made fail-safe plans: The first was that I run completely out of ideas, announce that I'm out of ideas, and essentially just dump the story, maybe write a quick wrap-up 'they all lived happily ever after' chapter, maybe not. That was plan A."

"You're not doing that," Marth said hesitantly. "You said you had a plan for an arc."

"I do. Anyway, plan B was that I don't run out of ideas, but it becomes pointed out to me either by my mentors or him,"—she jerked her chin over at the winged boy lounging in the corner of the room, playing with the pen that she had thrown at him—"that my ideas are getting steadily lamer. Once I reach that point, I planned to throw up a chapter involving somebody jumping over a giant shark, and have that serve as the end of things rather than forcing myself to plod on with ideas that aren't worth reading."

"Jumping the shark, I get it," Marth said wearily, running a hand through his hair. "But that hasn't happened either. Nobody's ever said that you're getting unoriginal or desperate."

"I know that," she snapped. "Stop interrupting. That was only plan B. There's still a plan C, right?"

Marth nodded, but wisely remained silent this time.

"Plan C was that I'd keep the fic going until Nintendo released the next version of Smash Bros for the WiiU or 3DS or whatever, and then the ending would be everybody leaving the stadium and moving to the new one. Plan C or B were definitely preferred over A, and plan C was preferred over B. With me so far?"

Marth couldn't help it: "But there isn't a new game out yet, so why are you talking about ending it?"

Mouse sighed heavily, closing her eyes. "Because now there's a plan D."

"What is plan D?"

She spun around in her chair, gesturing about herself. "This."

He looked around confusedly at the ordinary-looking room. "This?"

"She means what she's writing right now," the dark-haired muse spoke up.

"What is this?" the Altean prince demanded angrily. "Come on, stop being cryptic! It's not cute."

"Plan D was that I would decide to drop the project gracefully," Mouse said coolly, not responding to his second comment. "Under _my_ own terms, without anybody suggesting it, without me becoming angry at a project that will lose what makes it special if I push it past its natural limit. I want to end the Game while it's still the Game."

"You think it will stop becoming the Game soon?"

She sighed, leaning back into the chair. "It's complicated," she said. "I don't think I'm running out of ideas, but I feel like all of the characters are known too well. I feel like I don't have a whole lot of maneuverability room left with the characters I enjoy writing. I've already gone into everything I've wanted to go into. Sure, I could branch. I could develop the underdeveloped characters like Donkey Kong and the Star Fox group. I could go into all of that, and I could probably make it interesting. I could break up the established pairings too, throw everything back into chaos—and I've debated that as well—but that's not how I do things, and that's now how this fic works. The Game is really…" She trailed off, and thought about how to end what she was about to say. "It's really about enjoying life as a teenager. It's documenting a group of friends' passage through that period of adolescence, and it's not taking any of it seriously. It's about flying by the seat of your pants and not caring what the adults will think, not caring what anybody thinks so long as you're having a good time. It's meant to show what adolescence is really like, as opposed to the angst-filled drama-fest that Hollywood makes it out to be. That's how I've come to see it. Maybe it's not how other people see it, maybe it's just a drabble with no deep meaning, but I like to think that there is. At least a little. I'd like to think that this fic meant something to someone."

"So," the boy in the corner spoke up, becoming her spokesperson as she ran out of words. "It would be odd for the focus to shift away from the teenagers. They are her core group. They are the people she understands. And GeeLee's"—like always, he referred to her using the name that was not quite hers the way Mouse had become—"reached the point where she feels like everybody understands the characters as well."

"My work here is done, to coin a phrase," Mouse said with a half-hearted smile. "Not to mention that…I hate to say it—but I feel like I've outgrown this project a little. I want to write an actual story."

"So you're just dropping it," Marth said, an edge of anger creeping into his voice again. "Jeezum, Mouse! I thought you were going to stick it out, but you're here throwing in the towel!"

"I'm not dropping it. This is NOT the last chapter!" Mouse shouted. "Absolutely not. I have become WAY too attached to you to let you just die, okay?"

Marth scowled. "So what then," he said under his breath, obviously annoyed.

Mouse visibly calmed herself. "I knew you'd be ticked," she said. "And I'm sorry. I'd love to say that this would go on forever. I'd love to say that I could keep pulling original ideas off the top of my head once every week. But everything ends, and this is my notification that the end is coming up soon. This is the beginning of it."

Marth cursed.

"You're not going to disappear," she assured him, grabbing his shoulders. "I love you too much to let you go quietly, okay? Trust me. At this point, I think I know what I'm doing."

He didn't look reassured.

"Please," she scoffed. "Since when have I been the sort of person to let things end quietly? This is plan D, people. This is the plan where I take the end of the Game seriously. So strap yourself in for the coolest finale ever."

**AN: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME. And I have no idea how much sense that made. It made sense in my head…**

**Huge thanks to _Foxpilot _for letting me bug him with the moral issues I had about wrapping this project up…**

**But anyway…There isn't a whole lot to say. I'm going to wrap up the one-shots I've got left (amusement park and sardines) and then start in on the final arc. Don't flip out: the arc is going to be a long one, and is going to involve lots of Nintendo craziness. The arc will also incorporate a roadtrip, hotels, swimming pools, and trekkies (I told you they'd pop up) as well as the usual craziness. You don't think I'd let things fizzle and die, right? Come on. **

**There are a few people who I still owe one-shots to (mostly people who drew me artz ^_^): If I owe you a one-shot, you can either give me the idea now and I'll squeeze it in before the arc, or I'll just write it as a separate one-shot and upload it after I finish this project. One way or another, I'll make sure you get it. **

**But I guess my biggest thing is that I DON'T want you guys to think I hate you or anything. I LOVE you all, it's ridiculous. This has been so much fun. But…I dunno, all things end, I guess. Exactly when and how everything's going to wrap up is still pretty conceptual, so if you have any ideas, I'd be interested in those as well. **

**I'll make sure to keep you guys posted. PLEASE DON'T MAKE PLANS TO STORM MY HOUSE AND KILL ME BECAUSE THEN YOU'D NEVER KNOW HOW IT ENDS. X_x **

**Because this chapter was sort of short, I included some random notes on Oliver, describing how he matured as a character for anybody who's interested.**

**Notes on Oliver:**

Of all the things I did NOT expect to happen with this fic, the most incredible for me was the evolution of Oliver. You have no idea how cool it is for people to enjoy you writing an original character. Indescribable. Because at this point I plan to go into his backstory a bit in the upcoming arc and because I'm shocked by the fact that some of you actually enjoy him as a character, I thought I'd stick some information on him in here, because out of any character I have _ever_ created, he has shown the most change.

The 26/27 year old smart-alecky manipulative Dr. Oliver Stoelhart actually began his life as a character as 15-year-old Oliver Mantle, a character from one of my earlier attempts at a novel. He was originally a psychic (ESP only. No PK abilities whatsoever) and had the ability to communicate telepathically with his twin brother, Stephan Mantle. I also put a huge emphasis on his and his brother's religion and used the two of them essentially as plot devices to keep the story rolling (he wasn't the main character. XD). Nothing except for his first name and the fact that he has black hair has really stuck with him as he developed. After that project was abandoned, he was rebooted and inserted into a short office drama as the main character at age twenty-two. It was at this point that he got the name Oliver Stoelhart and his green eyes and was introduced to a love interest, whose name I cannot reveal due to the arc that's coming up (love triangles~). This was also around the point where he was introduced into the Game. Right around this point, a group of friends and I had an epic nerf-gun fight in my house that turned nasty when I ran around the corner and was promptly shot in the face by my teammate, who spontaneously decided to switch sides. We thought it would make a good idea for a spy novel, and I started turning around ideas for an espionage agent named Kazuya Tsubasa, code-named 'the Blue-Eyed Specter.' Not entirely sure how, but his story fused with Oliver's, and Oliver's personality turned out to be dominant, and this is essentially how Oliver Stoelhart was born. The fusion between Kazuya and Ollie happened between Oliver's initial introduction and the beginning of the Assassin arc.

The story that Oliver is currently involved in is largely based on the positive/negative reactions that his character has gotten from this fic. Est Benignus is not the girl from the office drama, but was rather from Kazuya's backstory. She was his fiancé, and became Oliver's fiancé as well, although I had to tweak with the ages a bit. Due to the fact that she died, Oliver has a separate love-interest as the events of the novel actually play out. Oliver's twin Stephan morphed into Ollie's sadistic partner Steven Gustalis. Oliver's pen-flipping quirk was actually stolen from Steven—in the novel it's Steven who constantly has a pen in his hand. Oliver also is much more monochromatic and reserved, sticking mostly to black and white clothes (in the Game, he's fond of khaki), and is three years younger than he is in the Game. His dialogue is also slightly more immature, with him preferring to say "I told you so" later as opposed to actually warning you about something beforehand (he still has a bit of this characteristic. He loves his strings). The idea is that the Oliver Stoelhart of the Game is the Oliver of Project: BANG after the events have taken place, which is why he's suddenly getting phone calls from mysterious women and why his character is slightly more mature.

Oliver has been a huge source of inspiration to me, and is hands down my second-favorite OC. I'm so glad I got the chance to watch him grow, and it's been so much fun watching everybody slowly warm up to him. Thank you so much.

**Next chapter is the amusement park (I'm sorry the hide-and-seek keeps getting pushed back). I'm really hoping I can upload that later today, but otherwise you guys might have to wait until next week because starting tomorrow I don't get home from school until nine (go stage crew!). X_x So either today or next week sometime. Until then business as usual. **

**Please review but please don't flame or rage or anything. Please. ;_; **


	54. Chapter 54: Screamer

**T_T I'll have you know that many of you made me cry salty tears of joy. I hope you're all happy. **

**Thanks to _Joshabi_; Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _Myraids of Mysteries_; It made sense to me, no worries. Although, I have to ask, what is the "fourth wall?" Thank you so much though. ~ Thanks to my bro _Sir StarlIl_; Yeeeeeep…you made me cry. Thank you for everything. ^_^ *hug* ~ Thanks to _musiccat19_; meiyou wenti. I'm glad it's made you happy. ~ Thanks to _Tune4Toons_; Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to _MusicGamer_; ;alsdfk….you made me cry too. Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _Hitomi Kogure_; I WANT TO SHARE YOUR DREAM! T0T ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Hershel will still be around for a bit, don't you worry. :) ~ Thanks to _HyperJuggernaut_; *bars windows* Out of morbid curiosity, what is your plan to kill me? ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee_; I'm not running out of ideas, I'm just running out of inspiration, and I think that's worse. XD Thank you though. ~ Thank you _STKB_; You doubted me? Of course there are going to be cuckoos. I incorporated them in the arc—they will be there! I thought you were pretty deep. ~ Thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr_; Agh, you make me so happy. ^_^ Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to _Excellion Arbiter_; Awesome—I'm still looking forward to working with you, although we need to talk about how things are going at some point. ~ Thanks to _Waffleslayer_; Whoa…you've read this whole thing three times? O.0 That's dedication. Right. Captain Falcon. *makes mental note* ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; 'Aw poo' indeed. XD Thank you. ~ Thanks to _TheOracleOfTime_; a;lsdfj…I teared up right along with you. ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; That was honestly the first time I've been flamed. XD Anyway, I really respect you for apologizing. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; Yeah, apparently fanfiction has this auto-cutoff thingymajig that stops 300-character-"NOOOOOOO!"s from appearing as reviews. Isn't that stupid? Anyway, thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _ARandomDay_; HECK YES. ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; …? Man, I will miss when this is over and I don't get to type your username anymore. It's crazy fun. XD ~ Thanks to _redhazeKJ_; O0o YOU'RE DOING TITANIC? We're doing Titanic next year! Is it awesome? Break a leg! ~ Thanks to _Master of Unholiness_; Dude, I have Quincy on my side. I am impervious to your hyperbeam. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; I'm watching the original, and the majority of the delay on this chapter is due to it. Does the manga/brotherhood have that creepy Chimera arc? ~ Thanks to _Kalyx Armada Lowell_; You have an account! WoooT! ~ Thanks to my bro _MessengerOfDreams_; Yeah, you made me cry too. Thank you so much for everything. I owe so much to you. *hugs* ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; FFFUUU…First MoD, and now you've got me sobbing. Gosh darnit. I am going to cherish this review, because it is definitely one of the coolest things that has ever been said to me. Thank you so effin' (ooh, language) much. *cue flying virtual glomp* ~ Thanks to _Dj-Nero_; Unfortunately, none of your options work out. I go for plan D—ALWAYS. ~ Thanks to _DemonColours_; Aaagh…*reaches for tissues* Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to _DoubleEdgedSword99_; ^_^ Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoy. ~ Thanks to _WirelessToaster_; Woot. I tried to put Zelda out there a bit more. ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; I did once. X_x But you're right, I should mention him. ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; I really need to play other FE games besides Shadow Dragon… ~ Thanks to my bro _Foxpilot_ who's been here since inception; Thank you so much. ^_^ And holy-cheese…I would totally vote for him. ~ Thanks to _anon_; …Yep. I cried for you too. That is among the coolest things you can possibly say to a novelist. Thank you so much. ~ And thanks to _DarkBloodPhoenix_; I'll try my best. It has been a good run, hasn't it?**

**Once again you guys have blown me away. I was holed up in my school's soundbooth for the majority of this week and last week with the school play, and after the first few days I started bringing a batch of tissues with me and I got reprimanded a few times for squeeing to myself when I was supposed to be quiet. You guys are amazing. If I ever were to swear, I would say without hesitation that you guys are f*mousebomb*ing awesome. **

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. This chapter was meant to be fluff but then it went all deep on me and Oliver got slightly OOC for the first time ever. I think I fixed it though. X_x Anyway, what with this fic being a description of teen-life and all of that schtuff, I thought I should write something about peer-pressure.**

**I apologize for the delay on this chapter. I blame the drama department and Fullmetal Alchemist (AGH!)**

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 54: Screamer**

"How in the name of all that is holy did you manage to talk me into this?" Marth said, bonking his head back against the high-backed seat he found himself strapped into and closing his eyes.

"Just don't look down," Ike—who was sitting next to him, similarly restrained—suggested.

"Wow," Marth said sarcastically, but it was to be noted that he did open his eyes and look determinedly up at the sky as opposed to the ground. "Thank you for that totally not-obvious advice, Ike."

"I can't believe you charge into war without a second thought, but something as normal as a roller coaster freaks you out," Samus quipped from the next row back.

"I'm not freaked out!"

"Sure you aren't."

"Make sure to put your hands up!" Pit shouted from the fourth row back. Next to him, Quincy whooped in anticipation.

The Alten's hands, if anything, tightened, several of his knuckles popping and turning almost as white as his face. The bar that he held onto creaked a little beneath his grip. "I hate you all," was his final comment before the cart was overtaken by gravity and plunged down the track.

**xXx**

It had begun with Roy running into Marth's bedroom early that morning and proceeding to flick the lights on, causing Marth to moan and snuggle back down under his comforter. "Wha' thheck?" he said fuzzily.

"Come on, man!" Roy cried, yanking the sheets down and triggering another sound of annoyance. "We're going somewhere!"

"I'm going back to sleep," Marth said unhappily and tugged the corner of his blankets back up over his legs. Roy immediately pulled the sheets back off, and Marth stuck his head under his pillow. "Go away, Roy!"

"It'll be fun!" Roy wheedled. "Come on, don't be a sissy."

"Lemmegobacktosleeeeppp…." He poked his tousled head out from under the pillow, squinting into the light. "Where're you going anyway?"

"An amusement park! _Roller coasters_, man!" Roy said enthusiastically. "I've never been on them before! Stoelhart got us tickets, can you believe it? Everybody's going! Ike, Link, Sheik, Zelda, Samus, Quince, Pit…"

"Not me," Marth said sourly, stuffing his head back underneath the pillow. "Forget it."

Roy stiffened. "Why not?"

"Don't like amusement parks. Go have fun without me."

"But it won't be fun without you!" Roy protested unhappily. He scooped up a T-shirt lying on the floor and threw it at his friend. "Come on Marth! Get up!"

"I'm not going!" Marth hollered, kicking the shirt off of his bed. "Especially not since _Stoelhart _got the tickets!"

"What's Stoelhart got to do with it?" Roy asked confusedly.

Marth didn't say anything else; he just buried his head further underneath the pillow. Stoelhart knew he was acrophobic, was what he wanted to shout. Stoelhart had played him—_again._ It was infuriating.

"I'm not going," he said quietly. "_Seriously_ Roy. I. Am. Not. Going. I don't feel well." It was sort of true, he felt nauseous.

Quincy suddenly stuck his head into the room, baseball cap perched on the top of his head. "What's going on?"

"Marth's not going to the park with us," Roy said solemnly. "He thinks he's sick."

Quincy smiled knowingly and leaned up against the door-jam. "Oh really?"

Marth blinked, suddenly remembering a certain instance where…

"This wouldn't have to do with the fact that you're afraid of heights, would it?" the pokemon trainer said lightly, a huge grin on his face.

"You're afraid of hei—?" Roy started to ask, but Marth had already lurched out of bed and grabbed the nearest heavy object (it turned out to be a lamp) and thrown it at the door with a scream of "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

Quincy ducked to avoid the light and sprinted down the hallway, cackling hysterically.

About an hour later, Marth had found himself stepping out of the Civic that Nintendo had provided as they had officially run out of legitimate seats in the Pilot. Ahead of him lay the massive amusement park, the crests of roller coasters visible and the screams of the visitors audible from their position in the parking lot.

"What sort of amusement park is open in March anyway?" he asked of no one in particular, flipping the keys over and over in his hand and fighting the urge to duck back into the car and drive back to the stadium.

"The kind that Stoelhart knows how to find," Link said with a shrug, tipping his chin up to look at the loop-de-looping tracks of one of the closer coaster. "I think the guy's some sort of internet guru or something."

Marth shot him a look, still continuing to flip the keys anxiously in his hand. Next to him, the Pilot slid to a less-than-graceful stop, and Sheik leapt from the passenger seat and pretended to kiss the pavement, which caused Ike to aim a lazy kick at her head as he walked around, claiming, "It wasn't_ that_ bad."

"Speak for yourself!" Sheik countered. "I think Roy can drive better than you now."

"Roy has a lead foot," Pit said knowledgably, flexing his wings for the last time before zipping up the bulky jacket that hid them from the public eye. "We would've gotten pulled over five times if he'd driven."

Roy laughed good naturedly and shrugged, refusing to comment in his defense because he knew the accusations were true.

"Hey," Ike said, waving a hand in front of Marth's face. "You okay? You look kind of green."

"I said I felt sick," Marth said, swatting the hand away and tugging the hood of his sweatshirt over his head to hide his blue hair.

Ike grinned maliciously. "You don't look sick," he said nonchalantly. "You look scared."

"Would you shut up? I'm not scared."

"Then prove us wrong," Samus challenged with a smirk. "Come! The Batman ride calls! Last one to the ticket booth has to ride with Marth-the-screamer."

"I'm not a screamer!" Marth shouted furiously, punching Samus' shoulder. "Cut it out!" She just laughed and turned on her heel to catch up with the other brawlers, who were already sprinting for the booth.

**xXx**

Innumerable jibes and verbal jabs later, Marth found himself strapped into the Batman ride and on the verge of hyperventilation.

Ike looked at him hesitantly. As the slowest, it was sort of inevitable that the two of them were sitting together. As Ike hadn't thought to wear a hood and hats weren't allowed on the ride, he and Marth had gotten a lot of strange look as they sat down and got buckled in. "…Are you really going to scream?" he asked.

"AGH!" The Altean smashed his head back against the headrest and glared up at the ceiling furiously. "NO! Come on, Ike! What the heck do you take me for?"

"Are you really afraid of heights?"

Marth scowled darkly. "Not heights," he said after a pause. "I hate being suspended. I'm okay so long as I've got my feet underneath me, but flipping and stuff—or hanging by your arms…"

Ike looked down at his feet, which were hanging a few inches of the ground. The carts were connected at the top instead of the bottom, which meant that riders' feet hung free. "…Ah."

"_Ah_," Marth mimicked, nerves making him mean.

Zelda craned her neck from the row ahead to look back at them. "Don't be scared," she said. "These things have been used so often—there isn't even a chance of anything going wrong."

"I know."

"So you don't need to be freaked out," she continued soothingly.

"I know! Get off my back!"

Zelda frowned and turned around to face forward again. Link shot Marth the bird for ticking off the Hylian princess.

If Marth had been about to make a retort, he didn't have time before the ride lurched forward and started climbing up the first hill.

**xXx**

Which was how they found themselves teetering over the edge of the first chasm, waiting that final moment before gravity kicked in and tugged them all down to the ground.

"I hate you all," Marth snapped, but then they were gone, and there was no time for words. There was a moment of weightlessness, followed by a rush of air and a chorus of screams. Everything blurred, adrenaline pulsed, and for a little over a minute nothing seemed solid and the world seemed to flip end over end. It was like flying. Everything was a roar of sound and a mixed pallet of colors.

And then it was over, and the cart was coasting into the station again.

"You okay?" Ike asked as Marth gingerly stepped out of the chair. Throughout the whole ride, he hadn't heard a pip from the teenager next to him. Marth managed a nod and shuffled wordlessly over to the exit. The others hopped off as well and huddled around him, everybody's expression switching from sneering to actual concern when they saw the color (or complete lack thereof) in his face.

"Are you okay?" Link asked, laying a hand on his friend's shoulder. Marth swayed, and staggered right into the wall. An assistant came over to check on the group, asking if they needed help.

"I think he's alright," Zelda said, waving the man off. She turned to Marth. "You_ are_ alright, aren't you?"

He managed a nod, and started off down the ramp leading back to the park. Everybody else followed several steps behind him, watching to see if he'd fall over. He made it to the end of the ramp, but was leaning heavily on the rail. Promptly after reaching the end, he found a bench and collapsed onto it, holding his head in his hands. Samus perched on the bench next to him, ready to leap aside if he needed to vomit.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly. He didn't say anything, and she looked up at the other brawlers, and then back down to him. "Do you need some water or something?"

He shook his head, and then gasped and seemed to relax all at once, slumping against the back of the bench and looking up at the sky. "Never. Again," he said quietly.

"Okay," Samus agreed, rubbing slow circles on his back and watching as some color started to leak back into his face. "I'm sorry. We shouldn't have made you do it."

"It's okay," Marth said, not moving from his position on the bench. "It wasn't really your fault."

"Then whose fault was it?" Pit asked, confused.

"Stoelhart's." Marth looked over at Link and Roy. "Never tick the guy off. He plays mean." A dark scowl crossed over his face. "He knew this'd mess with me." He looked up at Link and Rou through his bangs. "I think he found out that we lied to him about the Dairy Queen Incident."

Link and Roy both took a reflexive step back, although realistically they were in no danger, both of them muttering the same swearword in unison.

"You tried to _lie_ to a _psychiatrist?_" Sheik deadpanned. "Are you insane?"

Marth exhaled sharply, ignoring her comment. "Look, you two should probably keep an eye out. He's obviously ticked that we lied."

The two teenage boys exchanged a nervous glance, wondering what freakish punishment was awaiting them if this was what happened to Marth.

"…What do you want to do?" Samus asked quietly, still tracing circles on Marth's back as he hadn't asked her to stop yet and it appeared be helping. "Do you want to try another ride?"

"We could go on something without loop-de-loops," Ike prompted hopefully.

"Or make sure it's a traditional coaster with something underneath you," Quincy piped up. "Do you think that'd help?"

Marth tipped his head back, finally feeling like he was back to normal. At least his blood wasn't pounding in his ears and his life wasn't flashing in front of his eyes anymore. A ridiculous thought occurred and he giggled to himself, causing everybody to stare at him like he was crazy. That in itself was entertaining, and it took a second for him to calm down and ask, in complete seriousness, "Could we just go on the ferris wheel?"

Roy and Sheik couldn't quite stifle their snorts of disbelief, and Link made a point to whack both of their heads.

"Sure," Ike said easily, catching Quincy and Pit by the shirt collars as the two of them attempted to make a break for a more manly attraction. "We'll_ all_ go."

"We will?" everybody but Samus yelped in unison.

**xXx**

It took two whole revolutions on the wheel before Roy, Pit, and Quincy finally stopped complaining about having to tide something so boring and repetitive. It took another four revolutions before they were able to convince Marth to try another coaster.

Now they were standing in line for some ride that had to do with the national bird, which promised not to have any sort of upside-down maneuvers or suspension, which was the main reason Marth had been talked into doing it.

"Who would've thought this many people would go to an amusement park in March?" Link exclaimed, quickly retracting his hands as Zelda nearly caught him in a round of slapjack. They were quickly exhausting their available hand games as they stood in line. They had already had several arguments over the rules of chopsticks, and were now in the middle of a reaction-based game. Thankfully, given the season, the lines were moving relatively fast, somewhat making up for their length. It took roughly fifteen minutes before they were buckling in, Zelda and Link stealing the front car for themselves.

"'Please secure all valuables…'" Link read off of the warning sign. "… 'Don't ride if you suffer from heart conditions.' Anybody here suffer from a heart condition?"

The ride lurched into motion, and Marth said, "Maybe?" from the next row back. The chain caught, and the carts jerked once, and then started clanking up the first initial hill.

"You okay?" Ike asked gently. Once again, the two of them were sitting together.

"I should be fine," the Altean said, adjusting his tight grip on the lap bar. "I'm just paranoid." Ike saw him close his eyes as they neared the top of the hill.

"Paranoid?" he asked confusedly. "About the ride breaking?"

"No. Well…sort of. I know it's probably not going to break. This ride shouldn't bother me, because there's nothing about it that should freak me out, but I'm scared that it's going to anyway."

"You're scared of being scared?"

"Sure."

Ike looked over at his friend with concern, trying to think of the right thing to say.

"Enjoy the adrenaline!" Sheik ordered, smacking Marth's shoulder from behind, ruining the moment.

"It's not the adrenaline," Marth tried wearily to explain, but by that point they were cresting the hill and flying down towards the ground.

For the second time that day everything was reduced to an incomprehensible blur and indistinguishable roar of sound, a small eternity seeming to be compressed into a tiny chunk of time that seemed almost unfairly small in retrospect as the ride was coasting back into the station.

There was a pneumatic hiss and another slight jerk as the ride stopped back at its origin and another hiss as the lap bars all flew up.

"So…?" a very wind-swept Samus asked as Marth swung himself out onto the platform. "Are you okay this time?"

Marth's expression was similar to the first coaster—blank and semi-out of it—which wasn't exactly reassuring. Samus braced herself for a very long day and attempted to lead him over to a bench. "Do you need to sit down?"

"…Can we go again?"

She turned on her heel to make sure he had actually said what she thought he'd said. "Excuse me?"

"Or can we go on a different one, but one like this?" he asked, a tad breathlessly, but now he looked eager.

"You're okay?" she asked disbelievingly. "Just like that, you're fine?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. This one was okay," he agreed, and then frowned. "But we already knew that was going to happen, right? We need to try something else now. Could we try something with flips?"

"You_ want_ to go on something with flips?" Samus clarified, more than a little startled by his suddenness.

"Yes and no," he said easily. "And that's why I'm doing it."

"Marth's going on a big-boy coaster now?" Pit blurted, much to the confusion of passerby, most of whom did a double-take after hearing the strange name directed at a boy and then noticing the strangely colored hair and the fact that this large group of youngsters all seemed incredibly in shape.

"Apparently so," Link said with a grin. "I knew you'd like it."

"We need to try something with flips though," Marth said determinedly, his blue eyes hard and sparking. "And I want to try the Superman one later."

"Why the sudden change?" Sheik asked curiously.

Marth jingled the keys in his pocket thoughtfully and didn't say anything as he walked off in the general direction of the next ride.

"What made you change your mind?" Zelda asked as she tried to finger-comb her tangled hair out.

"Yeah, what gives?" Roy demanded, scampering around to block Marth's path.

The Altean grinned crookedly. "That one didn't freak me out like the first one did," he said cheerfully. "So I'm wondering if the first one was just a fluke or something. I'm going to try the others, working my way back up." He pointed at the Superman ride. "By the end of the day, I'll be riding that one and enjoy it, mark my words."

**xXx**

"The park will be closing in thirty minutes. Please make your way towards the exits."

"Gosh darnit, I wanted to go on the Batman ride again," Pit sighed, staggering towards the parking lot. It was going on ten o'clock, and the younger boys were starting to get a bit punchy. Giggling, they tripped their way through the gates and started the difficult task of locating a Honda Civic and Pilot in the sprawling puzzle of cars.

The older ones followed behind, flipping up jacket collars and stuffing hands in pockets to protect against the spring chill.

"I'm really glad you enjoyed yourself," Samus said, walking side-by-side with Marth, who was finishing up a soft pretzel.

"I'm glad too," he said with a tired smile. "Turns out the Superman stuff's fun if you just imagine that you're flying."

"You look drained," she commented, throwing a supportive arm over his shoulder.

He forced a laugh. "Too much adrenaline for one day."

"Better or worse than going into war?"

"Much better. All the mortal danger with none of the fatalities."

"If it makes any difference, I'm really proud of you."

He started, and then unfroze as he bent down to open the door of the Civic for her. "It makes a lot of difference, Sam."

**xXx**

"So how was it?" Oliver Stoelhart asked smugly, grinning benevolently in the direction of the door, where Marth was silhouetted. "Pit tells me you enjoyed yourself. I wasn't expecting that. Nicely done."

Marth threw his keys down onto the desk. "_Never _again, Stoelhart," he snapped.

Oliver chuckled. "So you didn't have as much fun as everybody thought you did." He shot Marth an inquisitive look. "Although you should give yourself some credit. At least you rode the thing, didn't you? And I'll bet you stayed nice and quiet, am I right? You're not a screamer."

Marth just glared at him.

Oliver sighed and closed out of whatever he had open on his desktop. "I'd love to apologize, Marth, I really would—but you knew this was coming, didn't you? You don't lie to my face and get away with it."

"It was still low, coming from you," Marth snapped. "Exploiting weakness like that. I thought you were supposed to help us. I thought you had morals."

"I did help you," Oliver said quietly. "You conquered the fear, right? It was exhausting, and you're still frightened, but you did it, right?" He looked at the boy sideways and smiled when he noticed the drawn-back shoulders. "And you're proud of yourself, aren't you? You didn't think you could do it. I showed you could."

Marth had no comeback.

"And, for the record," the psychiatrist continued. "I do have morals, and they involve not letting myself get pushed around. Especially not by a kid who thinks he can beat me at my own game." He tapped the desk with a pen. "And this_ is_ my game, Marth."

"What about Link and Roy?" Marth asked. "Are you going to come after them too?"

"To be honest, probably not," Oliver said with a wide smile. "Because I was able to mess with you, their fear of what's coming is probably going to be greater than any fear I could instill in them otherwise. Besides, after what happened with you, I doubt either of them will let their irrational fears slip when I'm talking to them. Of course, if you tell them I said that, then I'll have to do something, so…"

"You're awful."

"Call me whatever you like, but you have to admit that you _are_ proud of yourself. And I'm glad for you. It's good that you've gotten stronger. A king can't be afraid, right? Wasn't that what you were thinking?"

Marth scowled. "Don't you _dare _try to mess with me like that _ever_ again," he said scathingly as he turned back to the door.

"Don't you dare try to lie to me again," Oliver countered. Marth shot the psychiatrist the bird and stomped through the door, presumably to go to bed.

"Parting word of wisdom," Oliver called out into the hallway.

Marth resignedly stuck his head back around the door. "Pray, impart it before I faint from anticipation," he drawled.

"Don't go around revealing your weaknesses so carelessly," Oliver said, dead-serious now. "Because people who plot against you will use whatever they can get, and they won't be as nice about it as I am."

Marth rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just leave me alone. It's none of your business."

**xXx**

**It's not Oliver's game, it's mine. And you lost. *trollface* I just love when Ollie's manipulative. I think this marks the first time that Marth or one of the others has referred to him as something other than "Doctor" or "Sir"(I may be wrong) to his face. Oliver will not be playing a huge role in the arc beyond his usual responsibilities, so I think it's okay that he played a bigger part in this chapter. XD asdf;j…you guys are so nice about Oliver. He's an OC, so by all rights you guys should have flamed the heck out of him until I killed him off in a tragic accident so I wouldn't have to keep writing the shame, but...you love him. XD It's kinda funny now that I look back on it. Crazy awesome, guys. **

**For the record, Oliver and Marth were never intended to get along. Their personalities are too similar. XD **

**Anyway, peer-pressure is a natural part of being a teenager. So long as it's not for drugs or sex or anything like that, I think that it can be a good thing, so long as you recognize when you've crossed the line between friendly banter and actually forcing a person to do something that they really do not want to do. True friends will back off. There is my wise statement of the day. Mark it well, children.**

**And with that, I am off to karate, and then I'm sleeping. Hoorah. I hope to get back to everybody's PMs tomorrow. X_x**

**Next chapter will be hide-and-seek.**

**IMPORTANT THING ABOUT THE ARC: I need to know Nintendo bad guys who aren't already at brawl to insert into the arc. So far Ghirahim from Skyward Sword is the only one I know for sure I want to show up (is it wrong that he's essentially the only reason I'm playing that game…?). SO LET ME KNOW WHICH VILLAINS YOU WANT. PLEASE. I want a variety of baddies from different games. :)**

**Please review!**


	55. Chapter 55: Sardines

**I know it's been awhile, but I'm not even sorry this time. We were doing printmaking in art class and I sliced a huge swath of flesh off of my thumb with an etching tool. It slipped when I was carving and went flying into my thumb. Blood. EVERYWHERE. Fun times. I'm such a klutz. Nobody else in the class had these problems. But I'm okay now, so I'm back! XD I need to get back to PMs too…I'm sorry about the PMs. =_= I'm an awful person.**

**Thanks to _Ray-Kat-Hollows_; some random guy from Shadow Dragon will be popping up, and yes, no yaoi. ~ Thanks to _ttme123_; Ah, it's okay. XD ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee_; YES! I love Ghirahim. XD ~ Thanks to _ouranfruitsluvr;_ =_= Roller coasters used to freak me out too. No shame there. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; Sure. I pulled Fullmetal Alchemist (I'm watching the original series) from . Just google it. ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Black Knight's showing up. XD He's probably the one I got the most requests for, actually. After Zant… ~ Thanks to _STKB_; Emoticon storm FTW. XD I totally forgive you. And yes, I get it. I see what you did there. ~ Thanks to _HyperJuggernaut_; OH SNAP. *hides under desk* ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Um, they have to be related to one of the games that are featured in brawl. So Sonic and Snake baddies are welcome. ~ Thanks to _Link's Little Brother_; Gosh darnit, I'm so sorry for forgetting you. X_x Any chance you can introduce me to your big bro? ;) ~ Thanks to _redhazeKJ_; I can see you as an evil strategist (it's a complement). ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; I printed out your quote about Oliver and hung it on my wall. XD Anyway, ooh, Ridley. I know nothing about him, but that'd be fun to try… ^_^ ~ Thanks to _DarkBloodPhoenix;_ oh HECK YES. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; Whoa, make sure you don't hurt yourself. Don't worry, I try really hard not to ditch fics. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; AAAAAAAAAGH! MAES HUGHES! *goes off to bawl in a corner* ;ladfjsjklf ~ Thanks to _TheOracleOfTime_; Andross? =_= What is he/it from again? You have yourself a nice day as well. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; Oliver as Severus Snape…XD That's really funny, because I roleplay Snape on occasion, and I personally don't think they talk the same way. ~ Thanks to _ShadowRock21_; Whoa, thanks for all of the suggestions. A bunch of them will be featured. ^_^ ~ Thanks _to NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; XD Black Knight FTW. Thanks. ~ Thanks to _WirelessToaster_; Man, have you seen the Sonic anime? It made me laugh as a child… ~ Thanks to _Master of Unholiness_; He totally works, actually. ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; A glomp is like a flying hug so…you were close. I love you for your chaoticness. XD ~ Thanks to _Rachel Ray Wolf_; Oh man, have you seen the Kid Icarus anime? =_= ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; O0o YOU HAVE SAVED ME! YESSSSSSS! Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed. ~ Thanks to _2Lazy2login_ (been there); Who is Zero-Two? ~ Thanks to_ piplupfan580_; Roller coasters can be scary. XD ~ Thanks to _IForgetMyUser_; Oh, Zero-Two is from the Kirby series? ~ Thanks to _Cryptic Spam Ninja_; Nope, issa secret. *trollface* ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; XD An entertaining thought. If I had him as a main character, he would definitely play. ~ And a final thanks to _anon_; *squees quietly to self* ^_^ I'm really glad you like it. Do you have an account for me to PM?**

…**Sheer awesomeness. That is what you all are. I have everything I need for the arc now. ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Oliver and his female stalker. "she" is an artist that you must check out if you like techno/dubstep. It's awesome. And not mine, but that's okay. **

**This chapter is _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_ request of 'hide-and-seek,' and somebody else wanted an awkward Martheik moment (forgot who it was—I'm very sorry if it was you) and another person wanted some Roy/Nana fluff, so that's all in there too. XD It has no point, but I need it to set up important things for the arc. Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 55: Sardines**

Sonic came streaking into one of the entertainment rooms, screeching to a halt that would have left long skid marks on the floor had he not been wearing white-soled shoes, per request of the staffers. Marth glanced up questioningly, and Sonic took a moment to admire the prince's lazy position across the couch. Marth was sprawled across the whole chair, head resting on one of the armrests, one converse-clad foot propped up on the back of the sofa, the other hanging over the side of the second armrest.

"Way to mess up my immersion," Marth grumbled, pausing the game and pulling off the headphones that he had connected to the TV. Sonic shrugged apologetically and glanced around the rec room, finally realizing that Marth wasn't the only one in it—hence the headphones to contain the sound from the television. Samus and Snake were both bent over a chessboard, and Nana and Popo were talking about something in the opposite corner of the room, enveloped in a pair of bean bag chairs.

"Have any of you seen Roy?" Sonic asked.

"Oh jeez, what's he done now?" Marth sighed theatrically, pulling his headphones back on and rolling his eyes.

"We were playing Sardines," Sonic explained. "He's it."

"What?" Nana and Popo asked in unison, but they spoke quietly, and nobody heard them.

"How long have you been playing?" Marth asked curiously.

"About an hour."

Samus and Marth both chuckled, sharing an inside joke. "That's nothing," Samus said as she knocked over one of Snake's knights with her queen. "Back in Melee, he once figured out how to get up into the ceiling tiles and it took us a whole weekend to find him. An hour is nothing. The kid's got a gift."

"What's Sardines?" Nana spoke up again, raising her voice a little.

"Reverse hide-and-seek," Marth explained tersely, lifting one of his headphone speakers off of his ear and jiggling the wiimote. "One person hides and everybody looks for him. Once you find the person, you have to hide with him until you've got a massive group of people trying to stay hidden. The first person to find the person it is it for the next round."

"Can we play?" Popo asked hesitantly, raising his voice to be heard over Marth's howl as he was picked off by a wandering guardian.

"Sure, but you'll have to wait until the next round," Sonic shrugged, dodging the wiimote and nunchuck combo as they were thrown angrily at the wall.

Marth swung his feet off of the couch and scratched his head. "I'll join with the Climbers when the next game starts too. There is no way I'm trying that again."

"Giving up?" Samus said slyly, slipping back into her seat after standing up to stretch. She scowled at Snake and held her hand out expectantly. "Give me my knight back."

"I'm not giving up!" Marth said fiercely. "I'm regrouping!"

"Regrouping with an army of one?" Nana said dryly.

"Shut up," the Altean said half-heartedly.

"Oh come on," Samus said to Snake, still holding a hand out. "I know I had a knight before I stood up."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Snake replied, the picture of innocence. "If I had stolen anything, I obviously would've gone for your bishop."

"You knew you were supposed to go for the bishop and that's why you took the knight. I'm not an idiot; I run with Marth; I know the tricks, so give it back."

"I find that last comment mildly insulting," the Altean said from the couch. "As if I would ever teach you all my tricks."

A group of maybe five or six brawlers stuck their heads around the corner leading into the room, and then ducked back behind it with a unanimous yelp.

"Hey!" Sonic whirled around and dashed around the corner, grabbing hold of Roy by the shirt collar. "Were you trying to sneak up on me?"

Roy sighed. "No," he said sullenly. "I was trying to look for a new hiding space, but _somebody_—" He twisted in Sonic's grip to glare at Link and Sheik. "—Must have stepped on a squeaky floorboard."

Sheik shrugged and grinned. "My bad."

Sonic let go of Roy's T-shirt and counted the people were with him. With a dejected expression at realizing that they were all there, he said, "So I'm the last?"

"Yeah," Pit confirmed. "Sorry man. You just aren't very good at hide-and-seek."

Sonic smiled good-naturedly. "I know. So where was Roy hiding originally? I thought I checked everywhere."

"He buried himself in his laundry basket," Link said with a chuckle. "He's so small, you couldn't even tell he was in there."

"Oh shut up and go hide," Roy said sourly, smacking Link's hand away as the Hylian tried to ruffle his hair. "You've got until three-hundred."

"Hold it, we're joining too," Marth said hurriedly. "We're counting all the way to three-hundred?"

"We live in a massive place," Roy explained. "It took me the majority of my five minutes to hide properly. Come on!" He took a swipe at Link's shoulder. "Go off then! We don't have all day!"

Link turned and dashed off without further comment, probably already thinking of good hiding spots.

"So we wait five minutes then?" Nana clarified, falling back into her beanbag chair. "And Link can hide anywhere he wants?"

"Yes indeed," Marth sighed, suppressing a yawn as he meandered over to where Samus and Snake were still sitting. "Jeezum, whose bright idea was it to start a Sardines game when it's almost bedtime?"

"It's only going on seven you wuss," Samus said quietly, the majority of her attention still focused on the chessboard.

Pit and Quincy had settled on the couch and were surfing various cartoon channels before settling on an anime network to watch for their five-minute wait. Sonic crouched down to retie his shoelaces. Sheik tried to watch the anime before realizing that it was episode fifteen of fifty-one and she hadn't seen the first fourteen and wandering over to watch the chess game as well.

"It's really creepy having you both watch us like that," Samus commented, twirling a strand of hair around her index finger. She had regained her knight and had just used it to check the king. Snake nodded agreement, and took out an irksome rook with his queen, ruining the check.

"NO!" Pit and Quincy both shrieked from the sofa. "DON'T DO IT!"

"Five minutes are up," Nana pointed out quietly. Roy blinked, and then quickly vacated his chair to make a dash for the hallway.

"Come on!" he said, beckoning to Nana. "Let's go!" When neither the pokemon trainer nor the angel moved, Sheik threw one Samus' captured pawns at the power button on the television. Both of them jumped.

"What's that show rated?" she asked.

"…TV-14?"

"Yeah, that's like an R movie," Marth rolled his eyes. "Turn off that psycho stuff and let's move out."

"Least it's not MA," Quincy muttered, but hopped off of the couch and made for the hallway. "Where are you going to check, Pit?"

"Kitchen," Pit said nonchalantly, whipping out his wings and shooting off down the hallway. Quincy grinned, and dashed off in the opposite direction.

"Why'd they split up like that?" Nana asked. "I thought they were best friends—wouldn't they like to search together? Unless they're playing to see who can find Link first…?"

"You're not really supposed to look with other people," Roy explained, coming up at her side. He smiled lopsidedly at her. "So I'll see you later, right?"

"…Sure?" she said after a minute, but he was already running off down the hallway after Sheik.

Popo came up behind her and touched her shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly. "You're zoning out."

Nana blinked. "Yeah, of course I'm fine," she said, knocking her brother's hand away. "Let's go."

"You aren't going to play?" Snake asked as Sonic left the room in a blue blur and Marth sprang out afterwards.

"Nah, hide-and-seek doesn't really appeal to me," Samus said, and then rephrased. "I mean, I like hide-and-seek, I just prefer to get paid for it, y'know?"

"I get it," Snake sympathized.

**xXx**

The phone rang. He studiously ignored it. It was a mental exercise.

It continued to ring, and finally he swatted it off of its cradle and let it lie on the desk like a giant beetle.

The tinny voice that floated out of the speaker somehow managed to be intimidating. "Jaden, that's not funny. I know you're there."

"No I'm not," Oliver sang, and then reached down under his desk to yank out the phone cord. Not a moment after he straightened up, Link slammed through his office door.

"Can I hide in here?" he asked breathlessly, his face flushed.

"…Go for it." Oliver jerked his thumb towards the utility closet. "Just don't go touching stuff. I don't even know what kind of radioactive junk is in there anymore."

**xXx**

Sonic made a point of checking in every single closet in the entire stadium that he could think to check this time, lest he miss another person hiding in a laundry basket. The task took about ten minutes, and he came up with nothing. He paused in the residential hallway, scratching his head and trying to think of someplace he could have missed. There was the obvious problem that some of the brawlers locked their bedroom doors for obvious reasons. If Oliver hadn't allowed Ganondorf to start doing it, he would be waking up covered in silly string and pink paintballs every morning as opposed to just the once.

But then again, the idea of Link hiding in Ganondorf's room was a bit ridiculous. Sonic had a vague moment where he imagined Marth standing in front of him saying "duh, that's why he'd do it," but it still seemed unlikely to him. Let Marth or someone as insane as him go knocking on the giant's door, Sonic would be safe and sound somewhere else.

Snake's door was also locked, but the idea of going in there without the man's permission was unthinkable, even for Link. Bowser's door had yielded nothing, not even the click of a lock catching, so Sonic had assumed that it had been barred by something, which he was pretty sure was a fire hazard but either way meant that Link couldn't be in there either.

So he had to conclude that Link wasn't hiding in a bedroom or a closet. That left offices and communal places like rec rooms or the cafeteria. The best place to hide was actually in the stadium itself, but—again—that seemed a bit cliché for somebody like Link. Besides, the trick to hiding in the stadium was being able to hear when people were coming and scamper down a few rows before they reached you, and Link wasn't very sneaky. He was more of a bombs-and-arrows guy than a tiptoeing-quietly.

When it came down to it, this game was essentially profiling. "Where would so-and-so hide?" Maybe that was why he wasn't very good. He came up with everywhere people _wouldn't _hide and was never quite able to figure out where they actually were.

"Hey Sonic," Quincy said, appearing around a corner. "You haven't had any luck either?" He tipped the brim of his hat back and smiled cheerfully. "I just checked in the cafeteria—he's not there."

"Unless he's moving around," Sonic said tonelessly. Quincy seemed like a simple enough kid, but Sonic figured that he was much more complicated than he appeared to be. Everybody initially assumed that he was Ash, or Red—he had assumed the first himself—but it turned out that Quincy was a completely different person: a random pokemon trainer pulled out of the Hoenn region. A bubbly kid who had started out being sort of left out of things like Sonic was, but who had found a niche with the staffers in a way that none of the other brawlers had been able to do with the potential exception of his best friend, Pit.

"Oh come on, he won't be moving around," the kid said confidently, and Sonic wondered how he was so certain. "He'll have hunkered down in a really good spot, and he won't be moving. The trick's going to be to find him!"

**xXx**

Oliver had to admit that the kid was quiet. He hadn't heard a peep out of the closet since Link had shut himself in there. The psychiatrist had been able to go about his business as usual, answering email and taking care of some more paperwork.

A 'blip' on his computer alerted him of a new email. He sent the virus check running as he opened it, and then smacked his forehead into the keyboard with a hissed swearword, typing a string of gibberish.

"…Are you okay?" Link called out from the closet. "It sounded like you dropped a dictionary."

"I'm fine," Oliver said hoarsely, rubbing at the bruise on his head and mentally bemoaning the fact that he was apparently going to have to get a new email address.

The mail on his computer was simple and terse, but the style was still unmistakably hers:

_'Jaden Gold, answer your stupid phone. I just want to talk. What could I possibly do to you over a phone line anyway? Blow your brains out? Come on, scaredy cat. Have you lost your backbone? The Jaden I knew wouldn't be scared to meet me in person—he'd thank me for giving him the challenge—let alone over the telephone.'_

Oliver twirled a pen in-between his fingers, debating possible courses of action. The most obvious and also probably the most ineffective option would be to alert the higher-ups that he was being stalked (again) and see about getting some extra security. Another option would be to pretend that he wasn't getting the phone calls and change his email and move on as if it had never happened. But that would be just as ineffective, she'd figure it out. So that left…

Another knock at his door.

"Come in," Stoelhart said, minimizing the window and pulling up his stock options portfolio so it would look like he was working on that instead.

Marth poked his head into the room. "Sorry," he said, not sounding even remotely apologetic. "But is Link in here?"

Oliver pointed his pen over his shoulder. "Closet."

"HEY!" Link cried.

"Thank you very much. If you'll excuse me."

**xXx**

"OMIGOSH!" Nana burst out, nearly collapsing to her knees as she caved into hysterical laughter. Roy straightened up at the opposite end of the hallway, eyebrows coming together as his face flushed.

"Shut up!" he said as Nana became unable to stop her cackling. "Don't you dare tell anybody about that!"

"What—what WAS that?" she gasped, almost crying with her mirth. "That was honestly…That's right up there with the funniest things I have _ever_ seen. …Oh my gosh…!"

Roy scowled. "It was stuck in my head, okay?"

"What song was that?" Nana wheezed, still out of breath.

"…" Roy's face was the same shade of red as his hair. After a minute, he offered up hesitantly, "…Atomic, by she. It's Japanese-y."

"That was hysterical!" Nana enthused. "Your dancing and the song and…! _Ah!_ It was so funny! That's the funniest thing I've ever seen you do!"

"I didn't think anybody would be watching," Roy said embarrassedly, biting his fingernail. "Otherwise I wouldn't have been as…enthusiastic about the dancing."

"It was hysterical," Nana sniggered. "But don't worry, I won't tell anybody."

Roy slumped against the wall, obviously relieved. "Thank you."

"You know," Nana said thoughtfully. "There's nothing to be ashamed out for dancing. There's a saying like that, isn't there? Dance like nobody's watching?"

"Sure, whatever." Roy looked like he desperately wanted to change the subject.

She tried another tack. "When I'm having a bad day, like a really bad day, I'm going to look back on the memory of you dancing like that."

"Will that make you feel better?" Roy asked softly.

"…I think it will, yeah."

"Then I'm glad to help." Roy smiled at her kindly, blue eyes sparkling. "But seriously, please don't tell the others. Let's keep looking and pretend that never happened, okay?"

**xXx**

"Hi kiddo," Oliver said resignedly. "They're all in the closet. Popo and Sheik ran in there a moment ago."

"Thanks!" Pit beamed and ran over to the small closet and wedged himself in. Oliver heard Marth mutter something that sounded to Oliver like, "If the yaoi fangirls could only see us now," but he wasn't sure.

Once the door had shut again, the psychiatrist pulled up the email again. It was stinging, but that was the point. If he responded, then he was just doing what she wanted him to do.

…But it _would_ be a challenge.

He smirked and typed three words into the reply.

_'Ubi et cum?'_

He hit send.

Within the closet, Sheik tried to shove Marth off of her chest, only to have him lean backwards with the whispered complaint, "There's nowhere for me to _go_, Sheik!"

"I'm up against a wall too!" she huffed, and yanked hard on Link's hair. "Way to go, Sherlock," she hissed. "Great hiding spot."

Link squealed, and tried to shy away, but there was nowhere for him to go. Pit and Popo both yelped as they were pushed into the wall, and Link jumped away, only to smack his elbow into Marth's head.

"Yeah, great hiding spot, elf-boy," Marth echoed unhappily. "Why don't we make a break for it? There's no way we can cram the other three in here. The five of us barely fit."

"That's sort of the point of the game, man," Link quipped. "Are you wussing out?"

"There have been way too many comments about my wussiness lately," Marth snapped back. "I rode the stupid coaster, what more do you want?"

"What was this?" Popo piped up.

"Marth's scared of heights," Pit explained, and endured a sharp rap on the head. There was a pneumatic hiss, and out of the blue Sheik screamed and fell backwards, which was remarkable in and of itself considering that she had until a moment ago been up against the wall. The sudden lack of support caused Marth to topple over, and both of them went sprawling into a hidden crevice that had been hidden by an automatic sliding door.

"…What the heck?" Pit blurted, but it was impossible to see exactly what had happened.

A harsh light flooded the closet, and everybody yelped in unison except for Popo, who was holding onto a flashlight.

"So he did have one in his office," Link said thoughtfully, blinking to get used to the light. Popo shrugged, and shone the light into the hidden compartment, where Marth and Sheik were quickly untangling themselves from one another. As they climbed to their feet and scooted awkwardly away from each other, Popo shone the beam onto the wall, where a small line in the shape of a square suggested that there was a safe. It was protected by a keypad lock. There was a brief silence, and then…

"…Any ideas what the codes are?" Marth asked, his fingers hovering over the pad.

"999?" Link suggested.

"Oh jeezum," Marth moaned. "The thing's got_ ten_ spaces. Letters and caps lock as well as numbers. Do you have any idea how many possibilities that is? The guy's paranoid."

"Well, how many letters is Oliver Stoelhart?" Popo said. "It's a start, at least."

"His full name's too long, and he's not an idiot," Pit sighed. "There's no point trying to guess it."

The comment didn't stop Marth from typing in a few meaningless strings of numbers and letters, but nothing worked.

Oliver's computer blipped, and an alert popped up next to his email screen: _'Unauthorized Attempt to Access ClstSafe03.'_ He stretched his arms over his head as he stood up and made for the cupboard. "Should never have let those kids in there…" he muttered to himself before grabbing hold of the door handle and yanking it open.

**xXx**

Roy was still humming his music to himself as he and Nana wandered down the office hallway. Out of nowhere, he threw in a little twirl and grabbed her wrist on an impulse, pulling her into it with him. She giggled, and went with it. His face was red when he let go, but he didn't say anything, he just kept walking and humming.

"Hey!" Quincy called, running around the corner at the other end. "Have you checked everywhere else too?"

"Yeah," Nana nodded. "The only place left is here." She nodded in the direction of Dr. Stoelhart's office.

No sooner had she inclined her head than the office door had been thrown wide open and Link bodily tossed out into the hallway to land face-first on the carpet. Marth staggered out after him, and Sheik and the other two boys were shooed out just as quickly.

"Game over, kids," Oliver snapped, his voice unusually crisp, before slamming the door shut hard enough to send a vibration through the floor.

"What was that?" Nana asked her twin. Popo just shrugged. Marth and Link were both on the brink of launching into a vehement explanation of recent events, which basically consisted of Oliver kicking (almost literally) everybody out of his office and warning them that further invasions of his privacy would result in consequences, when Sonic came barreling into the hallway, extremely out of breath.

"JEEZ!" he burst out upon seeing everybody huddled in the hallway. "Am I the last one _again?_"

**xXx**

Snake grinned and hid it behind his hand, hoping that Samus didn't see. She didn't, apparently, because she didn't move her king or move a piece to protect it. He breathed a sigh of relief as she finished her turn without doing anything that would ruin his plan, and happily moved his queen into position, marveling at how he had managed to set up the move without her noticing. She usually noticed. Maybe he was getting better.

Or she was getting lax.

"Check."

**xXx**

**AN: Oliver's Latin phrase means "Where and when?" Hope nobody thought the wrong thing when they read that…=_= **

**So apparently Roy listens to Japanese too. It makes sense in my head. And Quincy and Pit were watching Fullmetal Alchemist. One of my favorite animes of all time now as of now, although it'll drop pretty fast if they keep killing off my favorite characters. X_x**

…**You know how you're listening to really catchy music and you think nobody's around so you start singing along and dancing like an idiot and then you realize that—say—the guy who takes great pleasure in laughing at you was RIGHT THERE? Yeah. =_= The song that Roy was singing has been stuck in my head all day, and…Yeah, I can't dance. It turned out to be pretty funny. **

**Once again, there was no real point to this chapter (it barely turned out to be about Sardines, did it? LOL), but I needed to introduce several things for the arc. I'm actually FORESHADOWING. This never happens. But I have been planning this arc for a really long time, so…whatever.**

**This is what happens when I get distracted (*cough*MATT-AND-MELLO-AND-HUGHES-AND-ROY-MUSTANG-AND*passes out from lack of air*) my style always wonks out on me. =_= I hope it's okay. Experience says that it'll revert back to its usual bubbly self soon. **

**Anyway: MOUSEMASTER42 TURNS 16 IN A WEEK! (March 29th, baby). It's really funny, I started this thing when I was fourteen, and now I'm going to be sixteen. XD Sweet sixteen, here I come! If you're lucky, I'll get another chapter up before then though… Still, exciting stuff, ne? XD Not really, but I felt like saying it. You're only a teenager once. **

**ONWARD TO THE ARC~!**

**Please review and tell me your guesses for what Oliver's safe password is. XD**


	56. Chapter 56: Roadtrip

**Yeah yeah yeah, birthday, cake, Chinese, driving lessons, boy-girl awkwardness, Howl's Moving Castle (cutest movie ever), Fullmetal Alchemist (…you guys know how I feel about this by now), holy week leading up to Easter…I have a plethora of excuses, but I'm still sorry I'm so slow at updating these days. X_x Thank you for bearing with me. **

**Thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; Did you actually play Sardines? XD I dare you to use that line on your girlfriend. ~ Thanks to _seqka711_; WOOT! Thank you so much. ^_^ And M&m's death made me cry. I wrote a one-shot to make me feel better though. ~ Thanks to _Kalyz Armada Lowell_; Woot, thank you. Go Mustang. ~ Thanks to _HyperJuggernaut_; Jaden has too many women in his life… ~ Thanks to _SakuraDreamer_; Dunno if you've made it this far yet, but thanks for reviewing. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Rachel Ray Wolf_; I got Icarus and it has no plot whatsoever but the gameplay is so much fuuuuun! *0* I'm addicted. ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Indeed he is. XD The safe becomes important later. ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; aww…You've made me sad. And proud, but still sorta sad. I was also informed by a little birdie that I got a mention on your profile. ^_^ Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to _STKB_; How could I be mad at you? You're awesome. ~ Thanks to _liveoutloud120_; Ooooh…My sympathy for your art related injuries. XD ~ Thanks to _Excellion Arbiter_; Woot, thank you so much! I'm looking forward to the collab. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; I'm really glad you liked it. ^_^ …Could you possibly tell me what your password means? I think I'm reading too much into it. XD (no cookies for me) ~ Thanks to _CandyTheif_; Close enough. ~ Thanks to _Amberdust_; Ooh, that was a deep little observation you made just there. I like. ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; You're actually the closest on Ollie's password. Nya is pronounced Nigh-ah. b^^ ~ Thanks to _WirelessToaster_; The Sonic anime wasn't the best, actually… ~ Thanks to _Tune4Toons_; YES! I'm so excited for the 999 sequel. I heard it's supposed to have over 20 endings! ~ Thanks to _ShadowRock21_; Aw, I hope your head's okay. XD ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; oh my gosh. I wish I'd sparked a mass Caramelldansen…that'd be epic. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; You're right, it's the funeral that makes it sad. But Hughes lives on Earth, so I was satisfied! XD I really want an Edward Elric T-shirt. ~ Thanks to _Foxpilot_; Oliver does have radioactive junk—OH my gosh. O.0 *did not mean to go there* My mind just imploded. I'm very sorry that you have to put up with my immaturity. XD ~ Thanks to the _Armanyte_; Thanks for the Latin correction. I just use google translate, so I know it's not going to be quite right. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _TheOracleOfTime_; *hides under desk* I have honestly never played Star Fox… ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFrame_; Thank you! ~ Thanks to _TehGameBoy_; …This came way too soon after my accidental mind-in-the-gutter with Foxpilot's review. Good luck with track! ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; FMA FTW! ~ Thanks to _NojahTheRoseShadow98_; Hey, I can actually fit Lady Palutena into this. Woot. ~ And a final thanks to _catsrae_; Whoa, that's creepy. They do look like Zelda and Link… **

**So many birthday wishes—thank you all so much! I swear I ate my weight in cake last week… 16 is apparently kind of important, but I don't feel any more mature…weird. And I can't drive yet. X_x **

_**Seqka711 **_**DREW ME FANARTZ~! O0o And it made me giggle. I need to write about Sheik's Metallica shirt now… But you can feast on it's random chibi gloriousness here:** http (dot) (slash) (slash) seqka711 (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) gallery (slash) ?catpath=scraps#/d4ty95q **(watch me cheat the URL blocker like a boss). Fanart makes me gloriously happy. **

**Anyways—I threw most of my own roadtrip experiences into this one (yes, all of my roadtrips have started at ridiculous hours in the morning). It's random, and this type of chapter has gone both ways for me in the past…Mostly a filler. Either way, nothing belongs to me except for Angel Fischer, Ollie, and GEEK. **

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 56: Roadtrip**

Oliver Stoelhart was in a good mood. He thought it had something to do with the fact that he finally felt like he was doing something again. Desk jobs could only be entertaining for so long. You could take the cat out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the cat. He needed the excitement, the unpredictability. Without the chase, he had to resort to playing, and he didn't think Marth was enjoying their little game. So the events he was about to set into motion were necessary—at least that was how he rationalized it to himself.

He checked the crystal screen on his watch, noting that the time was about two minutes from three o'clock in the morning. He rolled the microphone back and forth in-between his hands and then—two minutes later—handed it off to the sleepy-eyed girl standing next to him with a smile.

"They're going to be so mad though," Angel Fischer whined, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand and stifling a yawn.

"That's the general idea, yes," Oliver agreed cheerfully.

Angel shot him an astonished look. "You're a sadist."

Stoelhart winked. "Do you really think they'd let a sadist pursue a career in psychology?"

She didn't look convinced, but she reached down inside her sleep-deprived self and obviously found some part of herself that was at least sort of sadistic as well, because she held the microphone up to her face and suddenly bellowed, "EVERYBODY UP!"

Unsurprisingly, there was a moment of silence. Either the brawlers had slept through the initial call to arms, or they were hugging pillows over their heads and hoping it didn't repeat itself.

Unfortunately, it did. "EVERYBODY GET UP _NOW!_" Angel screamed, her voice amplified by the microphone and blasted through the speakers that Oliver had had techies strategically place down the hall.

This time there was a muffled chorus of 'what the heck?'s and 'go away's and even a belligerent, 'heck no, crazy woman,'from Marth's end of the hallway, but Angel—with a smile from Oliver—persisted.

"UP! NOW! You're going on a trip!"

"Leave us alone!" one of the Earthbound boys howled. "It's too early!"

"Aw heck no!" Marth yelled, having apparently just noticed the time. "It's three in the—" Oliver tsked at his word choice. "—ing morning! Leave us the—" A second tsk. "—alone, _shrink!_"

"Aaagh!" came Link's distraught voice. "It really_ is_ three in the morning! What sort of sadist would wake us up at three in the morning on a Sunday?"

"A stupid one," came the annoyed reply from Ganondorf's bedchamber. "I am going back to bed."

"Me too, man. Forget this," Marth snapped.

"Just be quiet so we can go back to sleep, you idiots!" Sheik shouted.

"UP!" Angel shouted again. Oliver, on an impulse, grabbed her by the pajama sleeve and nudged her over so that she was standing in front of one of the speakers. The action generated a shrieking wail of feedback, which was blown out through all of the interconnected speakers and caused a cacophony of distressed shrieks from the bedrooms.

Oliver, still grinning crookedly, shooed Angel—who was cowering with her hands over her ears—back behind the speaker, and the noise immediately cut out.

"I know you're all awake now," he said, taking the microphone from her hand. "So you might as well just get up. Your ride leaves in twenty minutes."

Marth stuck his head out into the hallway and squinted in the light. "Say what?"

"Twenty minutes," Oliver repeated, sticking his hands into his pockets and walking back down the hallway. "Angel, you can go back to bed."

"How come _she_ gets to go back to bed?" Roy demanded, staggering out of his room.

"Because she isn't going where you're going. Pack clothes for five days and meet me in the parking lot," Oliver said, not looking back over his shoulder.

"Why?" Marth challenged unhappily. "Just because you say jump doesn't mean we will. Especially when you say jump at three in the morning to a bunch of kids who didn't go to bed until one in the morning."

Oliver smiled. "Just start packing. Nineteen minutes until we leave."

**xXx**

Exactly nineteen minutes later, everybody found themselves standing sleepily in front of a massive coach bus that had mysteriously appeared in the parking lot overnight.

"Oh look," Ganondorf said dryly as he climbed aboard. "It appears that we _do_ jump when he says so."

"Shut up," Marth muttered, kicking savagely at one of the bus tires and swinging his duffle bag over his other shoulder. Link rolled his eyes, but made a 'tone-it-down' gesture at Marth as he climbed onto the bus as well. A disheveled-looking Zelda trailed after him, and fell back asleep on Link's shoulder immediately after they had stowed their bags and sat down. Sheik—still wearing her pajamas—threw her bag into the first open overhead compartment she found and curled up on the seat in front of them. Ike took his bag with him to his seat and leaned on it like a pillow, staring dully out of the window in the seat across from Sheik. Marth and Roy sprawled across the next two seats, using their bags in the aisles as footrests. Samus looked remarkably alert, but closed her eyes and settled down for a nap anyway, propping up her backpack against the wall to rest her shoulders against.

It took three or four minutes for everybody to find a place to put their gear—as it turned out that the majority of the compartment were already stuffed full of who knows what—and several more to get comfortable, but once everybody was set, the bus pulled out of the lot and started trundling off down the road.

"Hey," Marth asked quietly of the bus driver, who was an elderly man with a salt-and-pepper mustache. "What about Stoelhart? Isn't he coming with us?"

"He's driving in his car," the driver explained. "He'll talk to you once you've had some more sleep."

"Oh…" Marth said fuzzily, rolling over onto his side and pulling his hood up over his head. "…He would. Him and his stupid red corvette…" And then he was asleep, and the bus fell completely silent.

It remained silent until they pulled through a McDonald's drive-thru window around seven, and the smell of fried potatoes started to fill up the vehicle. Soon people were stirring and sitting up stiffly, and the bags were being passed around and quiet talking started between some of the brawlers, mindful of the ones who were still asleep.

"Where are we going?" Roy whispered, pulling his earbuds out and nibbling on a hashbrown crisp.

"I'm sure Dr. Stoelhart will tell you," the driver said nonchalantly, his voice also quiet. "I'm just following his mapquest instructions."

"Oh my gosh," Marth crooned, lifting up a bacon egg and cheese bagel up to the window, silhouetting it against the rising sun. "This is like heaven."

"Or a heart attack on a bun," Samus grumbled, fishing a strawberry out of her parfait.

"This, in a nutshell, is why we're buff and awesome, and you're skinny," Link said around a mouthful of hotcake and waved his syrupy fork near her hair. She smacked it away before it could get tangled.

"Don't knock the health food," Ike sighed.

"Dude," Roy said disbelievingly. "We're at McDonalds and all you get is oatmeal? That's just sad."

Ike shrugged. "I like my oatmeal. You like your heart attack on a bun."

"Thank you, Ike," Samus said triumphantly.

"So…" Nana said, changing the subject and sticking her head up over her seat so that her voice could be heard. "Where do you think we're all going?"

Blank stares. And then everybody who was awake unanimously turned to look at one person…

"Why is everybody looking at me?" Snake muttered, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his sweat pants.

"Because you're a spy!" Marth said, dodging out of his seat to plop himself down next to Snake. "You're supposed to be gathering information and stuff. You're not supposed to just get into a car without knowing where you're going. I thought you were more paranoid than that."

Snake pointedly looked out of the window. "Dr. Stoelhart already told me where we're going," he said quietly. "Because he knew I wouldn't go otherwise. I think he told some others as well." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to point at Ganondorf and Bowser, who were taking up several seats in the back. "But he made sure that none of us would tell you. He wants it to be a surprise."

"So he blackmailed you," Marth concluded bitterly.

"No, he just specifically picked people who enjoy seeing you youngsters left in the dark, or who aren't the type to ignore him when he asks us not to do something."

"And are you the first or the second type?"

"Second." Snake was still looking idly out of the window, watching the landscape fly by. "I will tell you that it's going to be a long ride, so you might as well make yourself comfortable."

"Fine," the Altean snapped, and flung himself back into his own seat. He fumed for a minute, and then ducked back out into the aisle and made his way up to the bus driver. Everybody else watched him curiously as he made a face and continued arguing in quiet tones with the older man.

"Where the heck would we be going that he'd want to keep a secret?" Link burst out angrily.

"It can't be someplace bad," Zelda pointed out. "Otherwise the people who knew wouldn't have come, right?"

"Maybe it's someplace totally cool!" Quincy said optimistically. "…Like…I don't know, a museum or something."

"Do you really think that Ganondorf would be totally cool tagging along for a museum trip?" Sheik sighed, raking her bangs out of her face and propping her legs up on Ike's shoulder. "I mean, come on. It's probably some publicity stunt. A tournament being held off-stage or something. There'd have to be the promise of violence for Ganon to get in on it, and—"

"Hold it," Link snapped. "Did you just call Ganondork…Ganon? Isn't that creepily close to a nickname?"

"So I chopped off a syllable, sue me," Sheik grumbled, shifting her feet and promptly had them swatted from their perch by Ike, who had grown sick of having her shoes in his face. She made a rude gesture at him and glared out of the window. "Like I said," she said under her breath. "I bet you any money it's a publicity thing."

"Well," Marth grunted, dropping down cross-legged in the aisle next to Samus to scratch his head. "The stupid driver's not telling me anything, he won't even give me Stoelhart's cell number."

"Just pipe down and enjoy the scenery," Snake suggested sharply, obviously wishing that he had sat farther back on the bus, where it was comparatively quiet. "It's a long drive."

"You said that already," Quincy sighed, pulling his DS out of his bag and turning it on.

"How long?" Marth asked suddenly from the aisle.

"It wouldn't help you figure out where we're going," Snake moaned, looking peeved. "Given that I doubt you have a map. We're driving south though, so that should give you a clue."

"Washington? …Oh man, we're not going to Oregon again, are we?"

"Well done, you know your states," Snake rolled his eyes. "Stop asking me, I don't know specifics."

"Oh come on!" Link threw his hands up in the air and got out of his seat, wading through a pile of wrappers. "Let me try with the driver."

"Dude, he won't talk," Marth sighed, snagging Link's sleeve before he could move too far.

"Whoa!" Pit exclaimed suddenly, standing up on his seat to fiddle with something in the overhead compartment. With some experimentation, he pulled down a small TV screen. "Hey guys, we can watch a movie!"

"…Did anybody bring a movie?"

The driver spoke up over a loudspeaker: "Your psychiatrist left a selection of DVDs."

Everybody perked up, wondering what type of movies they were being left. Pit brushed past Marth and Link to grab the stack of cases that the driver indicated from the massive dashboard compartment.

Sheik made a praying motion. "Monty Python," she whispered to no one in particular. "Monty Python. That is all I ask—Falling Towers or the Holy Grail, I don't care…"

From the face that Pit made upon seeing the first title, everybody realized that it was bad. "Well, um…" the angel dithered, looking like he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry.

"Spill it," Quincy commanded.

"And speak up!" Ness shouted.

Pit's face was flushed. "Well," he repeated slowly. "…We've got Finding Nemo—"

"This is not off to a good start," Samus said darkly.

"I happen to like Finding Nemo," Marth inserted quietly. He bobbled his head comically. "_'Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…'_" He would have continued, had the large majority of the bus's occupants not screamed at him to shut up.

"You _would_ like the movie with the ditzy blue heroine," Roy muttered, unable to resist the jibe and suffered a balled-up McMuffin wrapper chucked at his head.

"Yeah, so there's Nemo," Pit continued unhappily. "Home Alone, a live action Peter Pan…"

"I'm really concerned that these are the movies that Stoelhart thought we'd enjoy," Ike said.

"These are all kids movies," Pit announced gloomily. "All of them. Nothing's over PG."

"Well, _that's _boring," Ganondorf said monotonically.

"Is there nothing that's even slightly redeemable?" Marth asked desperately.

Pit pawed through the stack of DVDs for a few minutes, tossing everything that wasn't worthy over his shoulder. There was a long, tense silence with everybody else—save the bus driver—watching him anxiously. He paused about three-quarters through the pile and held out a case. "Have any of you seen Megamind?"

He was met with a few smirks and a lot of blank stares, so he quickly summarized. "It's a superhero movie about the bad guy. Interested? Not interested?"

Roy elbowed Marth pointedly. "The main character is blue."

"I'm so in," the Altean grinned, swinging himself back up into the seat next to Samus.

"I give it five minutes before it fails," she snarked back. "Little blue man or not."

"You're just in a bad mood because you were stuck with a health-food cup while I got to partake of greasy, cheesy bacon-y deliciousness in bagel form." He linked his fingers behind his head and grinned. She resisted the urge to poke him in the side and settled back in the seat.

The movie started, and despite everybody's skepticism, another silence fell over the bus for ninety-eight minutes, only punctuated by brief peals of laughter.

"…Right, it's nine o'clock," Samus said dryly when the credits started rolling. "That was decent time-killer. We've been driving for about five hours. How much longer?"

"Come on, Sam," Marth moaned and prodded her shoulder. "You liked the movie. Admit it."

"Nope. Not my type." She thwacked him back and climbed over him to get into the aisle, making sure to step on his foot as she went.

"Oh,_ that_ was mature!" he shouted after her, but his voice was triumphant. While she hadn't laughed for the whole movie, he had caught her grinning more than once. She was just stubborn.

"Are we there yet?" Link shouted up at the driver, who just shook his head. The Hylian rolled his eyes and started the majority of the bus singing 'Nintey-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall,' much to the dismay of those who weren't the singing sort.

The driver's phone chirped—the sound cutting through all of the noise—and everybody immediately shut up and turned in unison to face the front of the bus, trying to hear the conversation.

The driver made it easy for them, pressing the phone receiver into his chest and shouting out to the brawlers, "The doctor wants to know if you guys need a break to stretch your legs."

"…On three we all jump him and grab his phone," Roy hissed.

"Will Stoelhart be there?" Sheik asked loudly, clamping a hand over Roy's mouth and not bothering to point out that if they jumped the driver they would most likely end up in an accident.

"He says he'd like a break from driving, so if you guys need one too you can all stop in the same place, otherwise he'll catch up to you later."

Roy's hand shot up into the air. "I need a break!" he announced. Marth, Link and Sheik immediately threw their hands into the air after him. Ike followed a second behind them. Pit and Quincy both shouted "BREAK!" from the bench seat they were sharing, and the ice climbers nodded vigorously. The other quieter brawlers either nodded or shrugged noncommittally and went back to staring out of the windows.

The driver glanced at everyone in his rearview mirror, and then lifted the phone back up to his ear. "They seem up for it. Where do you want to stop?" A pause. "Okay. We'll be there in a few minutes." Then, to the entire bus: "We're getting off at the next stop at a public park, so make sure you're properly clothed."

Sheik tugged a sweatshirt on over her pajamas and threw a pair of jeans and a T-shirt over her shoulder to change into in the restroom. Quincy rammed his hat over his head and helped Pit find one of his tennis shoes that had been kicked off earlier in the day. Peach pulled a garbage bag out of her massive suitcase and sent it around for everybody to throw their breakfast scraps into. There was a small scramble to get into the overhead compartments and pull out jackets and other things that had been sleepily stuffed into bags earlier that morning. Several people who were still standing when the bus lurched to a stop tumbled to the floor with shrieks and swear words.

"Sorry," the driver apologized, pulling on a lever that winched open the doors. Marth vaulted over several seats to avoid tripping over Link, who had been unfortunate enough to be attempting to pull out a hat as the bus stopped and flung himself over the exit stairs to land on the asphalt parking lot. Samus and Ike hurried out after him, using conventional exit means. Pit sighed and shrugged his jacket on over his slitted T-shirt, hiding his wings, before following a yawning Quincy out of the front door even though they were sitting closer to the back: neither of them wanted to try getting past Ganondorf and Bowser, who were both barring the aisle and appeared to be debating whether or not they actually wanted to go out into the bright sunlight where happy humans and small children were no-doubt present.

"You're not going out?" Pit asked Snake as he and Quincy slipped past his seat. The older man rolled his eyes and muttered something about "too many variables" before pulling what looked suspiciously like a romance novel out of his bag and settling down for some precious quiet time.

"Suit yourself," Quincy said, thanking the driver and swinging himself out onto the parking lot. Pit leapt out after him, throwing up a hand to shield his eyes from the sunshine. It took a minute for the angel to get adjusted, and when he could see he was more than a little confused.

"What are they doing?" he asked, pointing over at the older teenagers, who appeared to be fanning out into the nearby woods in a pattern reminiscent of a search party and shouting things like "I don't see him yet!" or "He's got to be somewhere!"

"Probably looking for Dr. Stoelhart," Quincy supplied. When Pit gave him a 'how-did-you-know-that' look, Quincy pointed across the lot. "See? There's his car, but he's not in it."

"Wonder where he could've gotten to," came a wry voice over their shoulder. Both of them whirled around to see a young-ish man—probably late twenties—leaning up against the grill of the bus, but…

Oliver—as soon as they saw his eyes it was obvious that it was him—gave them a grin and tipped the brim of his flat cap away from his eyes. "What? You've never seen me in civvies?"

"…Civvies?" Pit said stupidly before finally making the connection. "What are—Oh. No. …Guess not. It's sort of weird."

"Oh come on," Oliver laughed. "You think I only own button-downs and khakis? Nobody wants to drive all day in dress shoes."

Quincy frowned. "So that's why they're all looking for you. They thought you'd run off."

Again, Oliver smiled, and hooked his fingers in the belt loops of his jeans. It was strange to see him dressed in casual clothes: in this case weathered jeans and a navy T-shirt advertising some college in Wisconsin. And, of course, the hat. Appearance-wise, it was extremely difficult to imagine that this adult and their usual psychiatrist were actually the same person. At least it would have been, were it not for Oliver's bright eyes and the way he smiled.

"Were you okay, driving all day?" Pit asked concernedly.

"I was fine, kiddo," Oliver assured him. "I commute, so I'm used to a bit of a drive—just not for this long, and not starting out that early." He stretched his arms out in front of him and popped his knuckles. "I figured you guys would be getting more than a little antsy as well, so…"

"You left us sucky movies," Quincy accused.

"Anything over PG and I have to get parental permission," Oliver said, his facial expression making it difficult to tell if he was serious or not. He glanced up at the bus. "I'm assuming that some of the ones who can't normally blend in stuck on the bus, right? Like R.O.B. and Fox?"

"I guess," Quincy said, scratching the bag of his neck. "Sir, can you tell us where we're—"

"On the bus, when the others give up on trying to find me," Oliver promised. "If you'll just sit tight for a minute, I need to have a word with Charles." Without waiting for a reply, he climbed up into the bus and began speaking with the driver, who was apparently named Charles. Nobody up until that point had thought to ask.

Pit and Quincy hovered by the door awkwardly, taking in the sunshine and kicking vaguely at loose pieces of asphalt. After a minute, Oliver took pity on them and stuck his head back outside to say, "You know, if you want to do me a favor, you could round up my search party. I'd like to get moving again pretty fast."

They nodded and dashed off towards the woods, waving their hands and yelling. It didn't take long to get the older kids' attention, and even less time to point out the fact that the person who woke them up at three in the morning was now on the bus, talking to the driver. Everybody retreated en masse, shouting battle cries and drawing lots of weird looks from the normal park-goers.

Stoelhart, to his eternal credit, had wisely left the bus before everybody stormed it, and loped back inside just as Marth threatened to rip up the seat cushions and dangle Pit out of the window for providing them with false information.

"Put him down," the psychiatrist sighed, and Marth scowled and set the angel back on his feet. "Good news, we're more than halfway there."

"Where. Are. We. Going?" Marth ground out.

"A hotel," Oliver dead-panned, examining his fingernails. "I'm hoping to get there before dinner, but we'll see how things go."

"Yeah, but _why're_ we going to a hotel?" Roy whined, standing on one of the seats with his hands balled up on his hips.

Oliver ignored him. "Which, of course, leads to the awkward thing about sharing bedrooms. I've talked it over with the superior staffers and they say that there will be no purpling—no boys and girls in the same room. Four people per room though because Nintendo's spoiling you all with food and all-access tickets, so they got cheap on the lodgings—"

"All-access tickets to WHERE?" the majority of the bus burst out in unison.

"So you'll probably end up sharing a bed," Oliver continued. "Hopefully that won't be an issue, and if it is you can fight it out amongst yourselves. Furthermore—"

Somebody swore.

It would have been difficult for Oliver's smile to stretch any wider. "Alright," he said quietly, and the entire bus instantly fell silent, straining to hear what he was about to say, sensing that it was going to be good. "I've strung you out long enough. You've been good sports. Long story short: Nintendo wants to roll you guys out at a convention. Essentially, it's a publicity stunt to prove their superiority to other gaming companies. With all the 3D technology and the motion capture stuff, Nintendo's still the only gaming company with the warps."

"Told you it was publicity," Sheik said smugly to no one in particular.

"You guys are going to GEEK," the psychiatrist said simply, clasping his hands behind his back.

"…We're going to what?" Ike asked bluntly. "Did you just say we're going to…geek?"

"Yes, GEEK. G-E-E-K." Oliver rolled his eyes. "It stands for '_Giant Exemplary Entertainment Konvention._' It's supposed to be the next big thing in California."

"…Exemplary...?" Link murmured disbelievingly at the same time that Zelda said, "I think 'convention' is spelled with a 'c.'"

"It's a con for geeks and nerds, what did you expect?" Oliver said, waving both of them off and leaning on the backs of the first two seats as he spoke. "Anyway, this is their first year and they're trying to compete with conventions like ComicCon and anime conventions and E3. If half of the people currently registered actually show, it's going to be huge. Every major company who appears helps sponsor it, so it's pretty well funded. Basically, it's a giant popularity contest and a heaven on earth for every type of geek. They're going to have BBC, Nintendo, Activision, Warner Bros, Marvel, Funimation—you name it, they'll have a booth. They're renting out a professional conference center in northern California. Sound fun?"

Stunned silence.

Oliver smirked. "That's what I thought," he said smugly. "For obvious reasons, most people attending are expected to be between ages twelve and thirty, which means you'll all fit right in."

"All?" Falco said skeptically, gesturing at the rear end of the bus with a wing.

"One word," Oliver said, still grinning maniacally. "Cosplayers. Trust me. They're coming out in the droves."

"Oh dear mother of…" Marth trailed off. "What have you done? You're dumping us all in fangirl central!"

"It'll be fun," Stoelhart said reassuringly. "Trust me. Just sit tight for a few more hours, and I'll explain more when we get to the hotel." With that, he turned on his heel and made some hand gesture to the bus driver, who interpreted the movement as his cue to start up the engine.

The floor of the coach bus rumbled as it crept out of the parking lot and started back towards the highway.

"It's very likely," Sheik—now dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt—said dryly. "That this is going to suck."

"Are you kidding?" Pit, Quincy and Roy all burst out in perfect unison. "This is going to be awesome!"

Samus shot Marth a sideways look, wondering at his opinion. He just shrugged, and looked out of the window, watching telephone poles fly by. "We'll have to see how it plays out, I guess."

"Hey," Zelda chided. "At least we know where we're going. Would it kill you all to keep an open mind?"

"What she said," Ike agreed. "Just let it roll. Let it play out, like Marth said."

"_I'm_ excited," Pit enthused. "I don't care what you all say."

**xXx**

Oliver had only just gotten onto the highway when his phone chirped from where he had it resting in his cupholder. He flipped it open, keeping an eye on the bus ahead of him and in his rearview mirrors. It was easy for him to split his attention like this.

"How's it going?" a female voice asked.

"I'll be there," he replied. "But I'm warning you now—circumstances won't let me go alone."

"Who will be with you?" she snapped. It was obvious that she was annoyed her demands weren't being met.

"If I told you, that would take all the fun out of it," he answered calmly. "Do you still want to meet?"

There was a pause, and he imagined her biting her lip childishly. Eventually, the answer came: "Yes. Our meeting is still on. I'll have to see what I can do about your company."

"They know nothing. I'm planning to introduce you as a friend from college. Then we can go speak privately." He shifted gears to pass a slow minivan. "This is all assuming that you're able to find me, of course."

"Oh, I'll find you," she said, and her voice was determined.

"Please," he scoffed. "You know I can be a very difficult person to find."

"We'll see if your reputation still holds. I personally think you've gone soft, Jade-Eyed Ghost. I think you've gotten attached. That's a problem."

She hung up.

He smiled. He was in a good mood.

**xXx**

**True story: My 8th grade history teacher and I once quoted the entire Finding Nemo movie when we were on the 8th grade trip to Six Flags. **

**The 'Jade-Eyed Ghost' is an alias of Jaden/Ollie's that is going to have no relevance to the arc unless I change my mind; I just wanted to throw it in there. XD The plot thickens. I was amused by how many people guessed 'ClstSafe03' as his password. It's not, but very good guess. (I didn't even realize that was 10 characters long until you all started guessing it. You guys are smarter than I am.) I only wrote it to point out that he has at least two other safes in his closet alone. XD (paranoid much?) Also, Ollie's use of the word 'civvies' may give you some insight into his previous career paths...;3**

**Speaking of things that amuse me, I was really entertained by how many people were willing to gush with me in the reviews about Fullmetal Alchemist. That was pure win. XD**

**Yeah, so 'Exemplary' was supposed to be this great big long word that also started with e, but it was so long that fanfiction obviously thought it was a swear word or gibberish and censored it. =_= Gosh darnit. Exemplary was the closest I could get, but it's still not quite as cool. Stupid fanfiction. **

**Hey, EXCITING NEWS: Remember _MessengerOfDream_'s Contest For Those We Left Behind? We're finishing up the judging. It took longer than intended (*cough*), but we're coming to a consensus! Hopefully the results will be up soon! I'm sorry for making all of the contesters wait so long for the results. X_x**

**Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuun. Next chapter will be Hotels (because I want to write about swimsuits again), and then the arc officially starts! For obvious and not-so-obvious reasons, it's going to be called The Con. I'm actually splitting the final arc into two parts, The Con and the other half which has yet to be named, because they're both semi-complicated. XD I'm assuming you guys won't mind because it means more chapters before the end, so whatever…**

**Anybody who's actually been to an anime convention or whatever—I could really use your help for descriptions and stuff. Please PM me if you have experience. X_x I only know what I've seen on youtube. **

**Please review!**


	57. Chapter 57: Hotels

**Right. In retrospect, it was unwise of me to ask you all to PM me when I'm already notorious for taking forever to reply was not one of my better ideas. X_x You would not believe the massive piles of mail that now flood my inbox. I plan to tackle that this weekend. You guys are so awesome.**

**ANYWAY... (Watch me change the subject like a boss)**

**Thanks to **_**OuranFruitsluvr**_**; Welcome back. XD Touche. ~ Thanks to **_**STKB**_**; …aww…I'm more of a Squirtle person too, I'm sorry to say. ~ Thanks to **_**SakuraDreamerz**_**; I'm not quite sure if you've made it up to this point, but if you did, thanks. XD ~ Thanks to **_**HyperJuggernaut**_**; Well, you're semi-correct. XD Ollie's relationship with the mystery woman is…mysterious. ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; Wow, thanks. XD *bows* Dude, did my email conk out on me or have contest ending preparations ground to a halt again? ~ Thanks to **_**SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde**_**; BOL. "Oliver you are a bloody sadist, yet another thing I like about you." My day was made. ~ Thanks to **_**Kyanite Archer**_**; Hey, at least I'm somewhat…consistant? I dunno. XD Don't worry, there will be Quincy/Nya and Pit/Angel ~ Thanks to **_**Hitomi Kogure**_**; Woot! Thank you so much for the help! ~ Thanks to **_**anon**_**; Because Marth likes blue. That's why. ~ Thanks to **_**NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95;**_** That is the best movie in the world. XD OH HECK YES. ~ Thanks to **_**AcolyteOfAzura**_**; I'm not mocking! Totally not mocking please don't kill me! X_x Dude, Ohio is MASSIVE. ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; GEEK. I must be one to come up with that. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Foxpilot**_**; Hey Fox. Glad that Foxpilot got out of custody okay. I'm so slow at Uprising because I keep trying to up the intensity to insane levels of craziness. X_x …I'm sorry I've never played Star Fox. OTL ~ Thanks to **_**grizelink**_**; ****Lo sentimos****,****no hablo****español****. OTL ~ Thanks to **_**MusicRockerz**_**; Yay, you're back! Thank you so much! ~ Thanks to **_**liveoutloud120**_**; Just keep swimming… ~ Thanks to **_**NinFreak96**_**; XD I'm glad I made you laugh. ~ Thanks to **_**catsrae**_**; XD I always imagine Ike as a secret health freak, so it's funny to hear that he's all for the steak and potatoes. ~ Thanks to **_**NojahTheRoseShadow98**_**; DUUUUUUUUUDE! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Game cheats will get you everywhere LOL ~ Thanks to **_**TerraClearwater**_**; Wow, thank you so much. ~ And thanks to FlameandRoy; WHAT IS YOUR IDEA?**

**This is probably the fastest I've ever written up the thanks section as I wrote it in the five minutes before I had to leave for karate. Thus, things are slightly briefer than usual and I'm really paranoid that I forgot to thank somebody. I double-checked and I THINK I got everybody, but I'm very very sorry if you somehow slipped through. BTW, OVER 950 REVIEWS! THIS IS EPIC INSANITY CRAZINESS!**

**Hefty Disclaimer: I do not own any of the SSBB/M characters. I also don't own 'There Will Be Brawl,' that apparently belongs to Matthew Mercer and Zach Grafton. I also don't own the girl who briefly pops up in the hottub—she's an OC of _Genesis of Giovan_. I hope you like. :) This is the second time (if you count Angel) I've included somebody's character other than my own, but this character won't be central to the plot. I'm essentially just using her as a background character. XD**

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 57: Hotels**

"Okay, I admit it," Marth said quietly, adjusting the shoulder strap of his bag as he got off of the bus. "When Stoelhart said 'hotel,' this was not what I had in mind."

"Dude, this is a full out _resort!_" Roy gushed, throwing his arms out wide as if to embrace it. "Just look how huge it is! It's like a mansion!"

Oliver came skipping up to meet them, pulling a wheeled suitcase behind him. Due to the fact that he was wearing sunglasses to shield his eyes from the bright sunset, almost everybody did a double-take before recognizing him. In a way, civilian clothes really didn't suit him. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and produced a stack of keycards, which he held out like he was performing a magic trick.

"Get into groups of four and come grab a room card from me," he ordered. "Everybody sleeping in a given room must be of the same sex, but I'm not even going to try to stop you from going between rooms before falling asleep. They're all on the same floor." He held out the fanned cards as they started organizing into groups, and raised his voice to be heard over the buzz of conversation. "Almost all of the VIP guests are in this hotel, so you might run into some weird people. Marth and Roy, you're still semi-fluent in Japanese, aren't you?"

"Fluent," Marth corrected.

"I'm not so good anymore," Roy admitted. "Out of practice."

"Ah, well, Marth will be your interpreter then, if you need one," Oliver shrugged. "I'm going to be busy for the rest of tonight making sure that everything's set up for tomorrow, so you guys have free reign until bed, but I'm betting you're all pretty tired from the trip, and it's going to be a long week, so I suggest going to bed early."

"Food?" Ike asked.

"There's—oh, right, you all need bracelets." Oliver plunged another hand into his pocket and withdrew a bundle of neon green plastic cords. "You need to wear these at all times. They let the people running the program know that you're a guest, and give you access to anywhere you want to be. They're also what buys your food, got it?" He finished passing out the bracelets and ran a hand through his hair. "What else…Er, there's a food court downstairs or room service, and there'll be people selling food all over once the con actually starts. You're all up on the fifth floor of the hotel, I think—you'll have to double-check the cards. There's a pool somewhere, but I actually have no idea where. Free wi-fi in the hotel and conference center, you're not allowed to leave the grounds without a legitimate reason…Oh. More important thing: you're not to say anything about actually being real Nintendo characters until you go out to Nintendo's booth late tomorrow, okay? Nintendo doesn't want anybody to realize you're here until they pull you out to perform."

"How the heck are we supposed to do that?" Fox drawled.

"You non-humanoids will have to pretend that you're just really good cosplayers or just stay out of the way. You only need to hide for a day." He gestured towards the teenagers: "You lucky kids can pretend you're just normal geeks. If you need an excuse, you can say I'm your uncle or something."

"Whoa wait," Marth said quickly, pulling a pained expression. "_You're_ going to be with us?"

"For parts, yes." Oliver smiled. "Don't worry, I'll mostly stay out of your way if you stay out of mine, but certain circumstances will require me to stick with you."

"What circumstances?" the Altean demanded, holding his hand out for the key card.

The psychiatrist snapped the card into Marth's palm. "The sort that are none of your business. Off with you all. Try not to cause an international incident."

Marth scowled darkly and abruptly turned on his heel to stalk off towards the hotel. "Come on, guys," he muttered. "Let's go find the room."

Ike, Link, and Roy broke off from the group to trail after him, all of them with slightly concerned expressions that immediately disappeared when they walked into the lobby.

"Holy chandelier, Batman," Roy intoned solemnly. Marth flicked him underneath the chin to get him to stop gaping at the ceiling—which had a massive crystal chandelier hanging from it—and made for the elevator, typically unmoved by the general splendor.

"Even the wallpaper's fancy," Link commented, trailing his hand along the wall as Marth led the way down the hallway on the fifth floor, looking for room 513.

"If this is Nintendo's idea of 'cheap,' I can't wait to see what they're pulling out at the con," Ike agreed.

Marth had found their room and slotted his card into the door. A green light flashed, and he stepped inside. "Please," he said dryly as he dropped his bag onto one of the beds and fished out his laptop. "We probably paid for it. We do a lot of work and never see a cent of it, so this really isn't a big deal."

Roy's mouth was hanging open again as he explored the room. It was admittedly small, with two large beds dominating the space, but a large flat-screen TV was mounted on the wall and there was a small sitting area over by the window. Everything was furnished in dark wood or painted a light olive-green color. The two beds were heaped with pillows and comforters. A mini-fridge was tucked into the corner, along with a coffee machine and a hairdryer. There was a small bathroom, but it had a large selection of complementary soaps and was perfectly adequate.

"Alright, awkward conversation time," Link sighed, clapping his hands and then pointing at the two beds. "Who sleeps with whom?"

"Can you please not phrase it like that?" Marth sighed, crawling around on the floor looking for an outlet to plug his laptop into.

"I sleep spread-eagle," Roy warned from the bathroom. Ike pulled a face and fell into one of the chairs, looking out of the window.

"Seriously, we should figure this out—" Link said, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. Since Roy was in the bathroom, Marth was still looking for an outlet, and Ike was zoning out in his chair, Link rolled his eyes and went to answer it.

"Swimming pool run before dinner," Samus announced, ignoring Link—who had leapt away from the door with a yelp when he had noticed her attire—and stuffing her hands into the oversized sweatshirt she had thrown over a neon blue bikini. "You boys in?"

Marth nearly whacked his head on the dresser as he shot to his feet. "Heck yes!" he agreed, shooing her out of the door, presumably so he could change. "Meet you down there."

"I'm kind of hungry," Ike started to decline, but then Sheik stuck her head through the door and stuck her tongue out at him and he completely caved at the sight of her in a one-piece.

About fifteen minutes later the teenage male brawlers found themselves dipping toes into an artificially blue pool on the ground floor of the hotel. The girls and a few of the others, including Quincy, the ice climbers, and the Earthbound boys, were already splashing around, and they didn't exactly have the pool to themselves. Everybody else was an adult, which meant that they were already getting a lot of strange looks.

"Righty-o," Marth said dismissively and cannonballed into the deep end, sending a shock wave across the water's surface. Ike threw up an arm to shield himself from the splash, and subsequently didn't see Link and Roy shoving him in. He flailed into the pool and dragged in Roy with him. Link swan-dived after them, plunging all the way down to the bottom and frowning when he resurfaced.

"This pool's really cold," he said through clenched teeth, trying to stop them from chattering.

"You get used to it," Zelda assured him, raking wet hair from her eyes: not the easiest thing to do while treading water. "And anyway, there's a hot tub over there."

"Hot tubs are for wusses," Ness said as he monkey-crawled along the pool's edge to where everybody was congregating.

Ike had finished coughing up the lungful of water he had accidentally inhaled when he had been pushed in and pushed off from the side of the pool, dunking Link underwater. After breaking up the ensuing splash-fight, Marth spun around in the water. "Where's Pit?"

"Wings," Quincy offered up with an apologetic shrug—also not an easy thing to do in the deep end—and kicked to the side to make way for a Japanese man who was doing laps. "He can't exactly pretend that he's cosplaying when they're sticking out of his back."

"Poor guy," Sheik sympathized. "I wondered why he wasn't here. Who'd you two end up bunking with, Quincy?"

"We're with Sonic and Popo," Quincy said. "Sonic stayed behind with Pit to watch a movie on demand or something. Apparently he doesn't like water much anyway."

"Ah. Who're you with, then, Sheik?" Marth asked confusedly. "Aren't there five girls?"

"Yeah, there's me, Zelda, Samus, Peach, and Nana," Sheik confirmed. "Nana volunteered to sleep on the floor. Peach didn't want to go swimming. She's still up in the room."

"H-hot tub run anybody?" Link inserted miserably, drawing his knees up to his chest. "I am really really cold."

"Oh come on, you'll just make it worse when you get back in," Samus pointed out, and then casually ducked under the water, hair billowing out behind her in a golden cloud. She came up next to Zelda, who kicked backwards and nearly ran into the same Japanese man, who gave her a dirty look.

"I think somebody's worried about shrin—" Roy started smarmily, only to be dunked by Marth before he could get the word out. He came back up to the surface spluttering just in time to see Marth follow Link out of the pool. He scowled and splashed at their ankles. "I was kidding!"

"Sure you were. Jeez, I think I got water in my ear or someth—Oh _yes,_" Link sighed in relief as he sank up to his chin into the churning water of the hotel's hot tub.

"Excuse me?" a girl asked to Marth as he settled on the bench. He gave her a nod, but was obviously preoccupied with watching Samus attempt to pull her hair back into a ponytail while staying afloat despite the fact that the girl next to him was actually wearing a more revealing swimsuit.

The girl, thankfully, didn't seem to notice his lack of attention. "Your hair and the hair of your friend there." She pointed at Ike, who was talking to Quincy. "Do you dye it? That can't be natural."

"Are your eyes natural? Or are they contacts?" Marth asked back, barely glancing in her direction. Link looked up to see that her eyes were a dark violet color.

"Natural," she said crisply, and then stood up to leave the hot tub. Link watched her with a mild interest as she wrapped a complementary towel around herself and left the pool, walking towards another woman who may have been her sister.

Samus finally noticed her admirer, rolled her eyes, and dove under the surface of the water.

Marth clicked his tongue between his teeth in a frustrated sort of way. "You ready to go back in?" he asked Link, who shook his head, sending water droplets flying everywhere.

"I like it here," he said defensively. "Not to mention that the pool's going to be freezing after this."

"Suit yourself," Marth said, hauling himself out of the tub and leaping into the pool, startling Quincy. Samus laughed fondly at the Altean when he came up shaking his hair out of his face and swearing loudly at the temperature of the water.

"Marco polo, anybody?" Nana asked, waving from the shallow end.

"Last person down there is it!" Roy hollered and sped off for the other end of the pool.

"Fine fine fine!" Link grumbled, making for the stairs out of the hot tub. "Hold up, I want back in."

**xXx**

They all agreed as they trooped back upstairs that it was a miracle they hadn't been kicked out of the pool. Their game of Marco Polo had gotten a bit out of hand. A few innocent bystanders had gotten involved.

Somebody's stomach growled audibly in the elevator, and there was another awkward shuffle for space. All of the boys were pressed up awkwardly against the wall, trying to avoid touching anybody else's skin. The girls didn't seem to mind and were standing in the center of the cramped space, trying to wring the chlorine out of their hair.

The elevator lurched to a stop on floor four instead of five, and there was a unanimous groan.

"Come on come on," Roy whined, bouncing a little on his heels and fighting off the claustrophobia. A woman in business dress appeared as the door slid open. She took one look at the brawlers, dripping water all over the floor, and forced a smile and said, "I can wait for the next one."

The doors slid back closed.

"FREEDOM!" Roy screamed the minute they opened again, shoving past Sheik and Zelda despite their scanty attire to get out into the hallway. "Hey, there's food! I smell pizza."

"Food?" Link and Sheik echoed happily. "Where?"

Pit stuck his head out of a room hallway down the hall, a scowl on his face. "Get your own pizza!" he shouted.

"Can _I_ have some of yours?" Quincy asked meekly.

"Sure, of course." Pit beckoned the pokemon trainer forward. "Come on, Quince. We're watching Get Smart."

Oliver Stoelhart stepped out of a room a little further down. He had switched back to his button-downs and slacks and looked much more like himself. "Go to bed soon, okay kids?" he advised Quincy and Pit. "You need to be ready to move at seven o'clock if you want any hope of making it into the con before noon. The lines are supposed to be huge."

"Don't you look fancy," Sheik couldn't resist teasing, putting her hands on her hips as Oliver made for the elevator they were vacating.

"I've got a meeting to go to," the psychiatrist grinned. "I can't show up in jeans."

"Meeting?" Marth asked, pausing in the doorway of the boys' room. "Are you helping organize?"

"I'm helping organize Nintendo's booth, yes. Not to mention a friend of mine said that she'd be coming, so I'd like to track her down if I can."

"I didn't know you had friends," Marth muttered under his breath, and then ducked smartly into his room and slammed the door as Oliver sent a pen whizzing towards his head.

"Don't forget to put on your bracelets!" Oliver shouted to the closed door, and then said over his shoulder as the elevator doors started to close behind him. "That goes for you girls too. You'll need them to order dinner."

"Duly noted," Samus sighed, stretching over her head and stifling a yawn. "Right, let's get some food and knock off. I'm beat."

"Dibs on first shower," Sheik said, skipping around Zelda as she swiped the key card and running into the bathroom. Peach looked up from the bed, where she had been lying reading a magazine, and asked if they had had fun in the pool.

"I had fun, but it was sort of cold," Zelda said, laying a towel down on the bed so that she could sit without getting the sheets wet. "We played Marco Polo."

Nana plopped herself down on the floor with the TV remote and started flicking through the channels, pausing briefly on the hotel's channel to figure out how to order dinner and then finally stopping on the weather channel.

"Seriously?" Samus said dryly, coming back into the main room and yanking a comb through the tangles in her hair.

"Hey," Nana snapped. "Don't be bashing the weather channel. It's addicting."

"More like mind-numbing," Samus sighed, briefly debating whether or not it was worth wrestling the remote from the younger girl. "Did you figure out how to order a pizza?"

"Oh, yeah, hold on a sec." Nana dashed for the desk, where a phone was lying. "What do you want?"

"Veggie," Zelda said quietly. Sheik hollered "Pepperoni!" from the shower, Samus said that she'd eat anything, and Peach agreed with Sheik's pepperoni.

"How about two pepperonis and one veggie?" Nana proposed. Samus nodded, and they ordered in.

The pizzas arrived just as Nana—who had gone after Sheik—got out of the shower. They took a break to give the water heater time to refill and ended up watching a sitcom on the television. Without the shower running, it became immediately clear that they could hear almost everything going on in the boy's room next to theirs through the thin walls. They were apparently watching an inappropriate movie, judging from the frequent laughs and choruses of 'Oh-ho-_ho!_'

Sheik swung her legs off of the bed after several minutes of eavesdropping and made for the door, muttering, "I can't take it anymore." Nobody followed her, but they heard her enter the boys' room and heard everybody within yell out in unison.

Sheik suddenly came dashing back into the girls' hotel room, her face flushed. "They're watching 'There Will Be Brawl' on Marth's laptop!"

"NO way!" Samus and Zelda yelped in unison, both of them dropping their pizza and running into the other room.

Nana looked horribly confused. "What's that?"

"It's a Brawl parody on the internet," Sheik explained briefly, leaning up against the door. "Grossly inappropriate. Very entertaining if you resign yourself to its inaccuracy."

Peach scowled and buried her head in the pillow, muttering something about 'inaccurate representations.'

There was a pause, and then Sheik grinned apologetically and skipped back over to the boys' room after the other girls.

"I still don't get it," Nana confessed and looked up at Peach hopefully. "You've seen it?"

Peach sighed and said that, unfortunately, she had. She didn't recommend it.

"Oh," Nana sighed. There was an awkward silence, and Nana ended up switching the weather channel back on again at a low volume when Peach snuggled under the covers and announced that she was going to bed. Nana had no idea how she could fall asleep so fast: the teenagers were making a huge amount of noise in the other room, laughing and 'ooh'ing and swearing at whatever it was they were watching, but Peach somehow managed.

Nana drew her knees up to her chest and nibbled at another slice of pizza, trying to concentrate on the TV despite all of the background noise. Just as she had resolved to try and get some sleep herself, there was a knock at the door.

Confused, she stood up and opened the door to see a pajama-clad and damp-haired Roy.

"Can I come in?" he asked. "Please?"

Nana bit her lip. "One minute," she said embarrassedly, and shut the door in his face. She raced around the small room, stuffing bras and underwear underneath the bed and shutting the bathroom door to keep him from seeing all of the swimsuits that were hanging up in the bathtub to dry. She couldn't exactly do anything about Peach, but the princess was mostly under the covers anyway and it wasn't as if her pajamas were any more provocative than what she usually wore, so…

"Sorry about that," she said with a nervous giggle as she opened the door again for Roy. "Come on in."

He looked incredibly grateful and gave her a kind smile.

"I thought you were watching something on the computer?" she asked curiously, sitting down again in front of the TV and patting the ground next to her as an indication that he should sit too.

"No," he said sullenly. "I tried, I really did, but I just don't see what's funny about it. It's just…freaky."

"What is it?" Nana asked, picking up another slice of cold pizza. She nudged one of the other boxes over to him with her foot. "Help yourself."

He snagged a slice of pepperoni and chewed it thoughtfully. "It's like…modern Brawl, I guess. It's like the Mushroom Kingdom's taken over everything, but now there's some serial killer or something that everybody has to catch." He lowered his voice and admitted awkwardly, "There's a lot of sex."

"Ew," Nana said automatically.

Roy pulled a face and nodded. "Not to mention I'm one of the first people the killer gets, and Kirby scares the heck out of me."

"Aw," she sympathized. "Kirby scares you?"

"It sounds like Gollum!" Roy insisted, and then noticed Peach and whispered, "I'm not joking! It's like the insane little pink blob with teeth!"

"Kirby doesn't have teeth," Nana pointed out.

"Yeah, I know, but it has teeth in the movie! It's disturbing!"

"Did you ever find out who the killer is?" she asked him. "I mean, did Marth kill him or something? Revenge?"

"I think Marth was gay," Roy sighed, running a hand through his hair and spiking the damper parts. "He and Ike were these two cops who didn't really do anything. And I left before we found out who the killer was, so…"

"Hm."

A pause, punctuated by more laughter from the room next door.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Roy said around a yawn. "But why are you watching the weather channel?"

"It's addicting," Nana said sullenly. "Do you think that the others will be up for awhile? It's getting kind of late, and Dr. Stoelhart said we should be getting to bed …"

"There's something like ten episodes, and I think they're on two."

"Oh."

Roy blinked, his eyes huge and bright in the stark light of the television. "I'm sorry," he said quickly. "I mean, if you want to go to sleep, I'll find somewhere else to hang out. It's no problem, I just…"

"No, it's not a problem. I'm not even tired," Nana waved him off, but then she yawned and the seriousness was ruined.

"So you're sleeping on the floor?" Roy asked. "I mean, there's five of you and…?"

"Yeah, I was planning to take the cushions from those two chairs and sleep on them," Nana nodded. "Not a big deal—I mean, I am the smallest." She shot him a look. "What about you? I bet you guys had fun trying to figure out who's sharing with who."

"We didn't really talk about it. We figured we'd work it out later," Roy chuckled. "But given the way things are going, some of the girls will probably end up falling asleep in the guys' room. It'll be just like when we stayed up playing Truth-or-Dare."

"I wasn't there for that," Nana said, unable to stop the smug tone from entering her voice. "_I _was a good little girl."

"Oh shut up. We learned our lesson."

The weather channel flipped to a commercial, and something amusing happened in the room next door.

"We're really loud," Roy apologized. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay," Nana shrugged. "The walls at home are pretty thin too, so most of us are used to sleeping through noise."

"Aw, dang, I'm really sorry," he apologized again. "I didn't realize that we kept you up back at the stadium too."

"No, we all gave each other really high-quality ear plugs last year for Christmas, so it's all good. Don't worry about it. I even brought them for the trip. They're in my bag."

He still looked put out, but he didn't argue. She yawned again, and he finally cracked a smile.

"We should probably get to sleep," he said after a minute.

"Yeah," she agreed. Neither of them moved.

**xXx**

It was nearly midnight by the time they finished 'There Will Be Brawl' and started to troop bedwards. Marth clicked his laptop shut and stretched up for the ceiling. "Right…where'd Roy get to?"

"He left awhile ago," Link said. "He didn't say why."

"Well, let us know if you can't find him," Samus said, stifling a yawn. "It'd suck if he got kidnapped again."

"No kidding," Ike rolled his eyes.

"Goodnight," Zelda said with a sleepy smile as she trailed after Sheik back out into the hallway. Sheik swiped the key card into their room and stepped inside. The lights were still dimly on, so she initially thought that Nana and Peach were still awake.

"Hey guys," she whispered just in case they weren't, and then she noticed the two teenagers sprawled out on the floor. Roy was leaning up against the bed, his head tilted towards the ceiling, and Nana had curled up into a little ball at his side. Both of them were sound asleep.

Sheik grinned and stuck her head out into the hallway to order Ike to come over and help her move Roy back to his own bedroom. He came padding over, and together they managed to lift Roy up without waking him.

"What about Nana?" Zelda asked Samus once Sheik and Ike had left.

"I can sleep on the floor tonight," Samus said quietly. "Here, grab her shoulders. We'll put her with Peach."

They got Nana into the bed and bunched the covers up over her shoulders. She mumbled something hazily and rolled over, but didn't wake up.

It took a few more minutes for the rest of the girls to get settled, but eventually they were already for bed.

"Ugh, seven seems too early," Samus whispered from the floor.

"No kidding," Sheik complained.

"Well, there's no helping it," Zelda said reasonably. "The only thing we can do now is get as much sleep as possible."

"Touché," Samus admitted, and reached up to turn off the television.

**xXx**

**Okay, seriously, if you have not watched "There Will Be Brawl" and you are not 17, PLEASE DON'T GO WATCH IT. It's true that it's glorious in a cult-classic sort of way, but it's one of those things that remains forever lodged in your cranium and will pop into your head whenever you turn on your wii for the next five years. It is dark, and gruesome, and they twist the characters in mind-blowing ways that leave you sitting in the seat either going "WHAT THE HECK DID I JUST WATCH" or "GENIUS!" depending on the character. Please don't go watch it because I talked about it. I will feel so terrible if I scar some poor person for life. **

**Somebody wanted Roy/Nana. I happily obliged. Their conversations are so cute~ I actually have MoD to thank for introducing me to that pairing. ^_^**

**ONTO THE FINAL ARC! *jazz hands* I'm hoping to have quite a bit of reader/author interaction in this final arc with this and that, so I'd like to hear what fandoms you like me to include in GEEK. Anime, movies, cartoons, video games, anything geeky goes, my friend. I'll be including my own personal favorites (*cough*ROYMUSTANG*cough*), but I want you guys to give me some suggestions too because I'm relatively new to the whole thing. XD**

**Next chapter might be ever-so-slightly delayed because I need to work on another SSBB fanfiction-projecty-thing that will remain a secret as I'm not sure if the person in charge wants me to talk about it yet, and I've got a vague FMA drabble that I need to get off my chest before the plot-bunny runs away. Very very sorry. X_x I'll work hard to get the next chapter up ASAP. Thanks for bearing with me. **

**Please review!**


	58. Chapter 58: The Con pt 1

**So I've had horrific writer's block lately and finals stress and-*notices review counter* … Am I seeing things? *goes into the system to check* . . . HOLY MOTHER OF HERSHEL. This did not just happen. **

**Thanks to _CandyTheif_; You do NOT want to see There Will Be Brawl unless you wish to be traumatized. ~ Thanks to _Genesis of Giovana_; Wootz! Please let me know if I messed up your characters at all and I'll edit. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _HyperJuggernaut_; I'm constantly trying to improve, so I'm glad it's interesting. ~ Thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr_; Yay! I feel loved! ^_^ ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Yup. You have Star Trek and Dr. Who to look forward to. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIII_; Wow, you're right, Roy actually was kind of mature…I blame Nana. SWIMSUITS! ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee_; =_= I knooow. Homework sucketh. ~ Thanks to _STKB_; Oh, yu-gi-oh. That's honestly one of the only fandoms I completely forgot about…It'll be in the next chapter, no worries! ~ Thanks to _SgtPeppersLHCB_; Yeah, there isn't a ton of Zelink in this chappie either, but there will be more later. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; I have so much fun writing fluffy pairings. ~ Thanks to _Hitomi Kogure_; What exactly IS homestuck? I've never read it. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; BOL= "burst out laughing" You'll have to wait and see whether or not anybody dies. Aw, thank you for the poem. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _CEObrainz_; Wow, thank you so much. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Cardcaptornicole_; I shall. It's too cute. ~ Thanks to _ShadowRock21_; Meh, my bag's too heavy too. Your review showed up—don't know what happened there. XD ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; O0o That would indeed be epic. ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; Go go go indeed. XD ~ Thanks to _Rachel Ray Wolf_; Me too! I was really pleased with Uprising, actually. ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; TREKKIES! ~ Thanks to _WirelessToaster_; I think it was Sonic X…I really don't remember. ~ Thanks to _AcolyteOfAzura_; Yeah, Smarthus=not cute. XD Sheik/Ike is slightly more so… ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; ^_^ Even though you're not going to be around, I hope you still are able to read this through to completion. It'd mean a lot to me. ~ Thanks to _Sogo_; No, you don't have to say. ~ Thanks to _anon_; Wootz! Thank you! ~ Thanks to _musiccat19_; Whoa, why were you in China? *uber jealous* ~ Thanks to _yo_; Spongebob…Now I'm trying to think of how I could work him in. XD ~ Thanks to _FlameandRoy_; WHOA. It DID. That's just freaky. ~ Thanks to _KiKat813_; Well…Soren maaaay be popping up in future chapters. We'll have to see. :3 ~ Thanks to _seqka711_; Aw man, genderbending…That's going to be epic. ~ Thanks to _Draconis Kitten Sweetie_; PLEASE DON'T KLL ME. Marth's okay, see? Marth, say something. Marth: … Me: Well, he's alive! ~ Thanks to _Caxe_; Yay! Have a virtual cookie for reading through the whole thing. (::) ~ Thanks to _Angel_; Ollie's always been a bit of a womanizer…XD ~ Thanks to _fallen angel medileen_; Mousey-child? Epic nickname, I approve. ~ Thanks to _Elig32_; Yeeah…I would advise checking out MessengerOfDream's "Animal House." It deals with characters I don't feature. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Navarre121_; Firefly and Super Paper Mario shall be included. ^_^ ~ And thanks to the 1,000th reviewer, _Upsilon Forty-Two_; I hope you're caught up by now, and have a virtual cookie for being the 1000th. (::)**

**Dude, it feels like destiny that I hit 1000 reviews right before the final arc starts…O0o I cannot thank you enough. This is crazy. Anyway, I know I've been gone a long time, but this chapter is [mousebomb]ING MASSIVE in terms of content. X_x I hope it sorta makes up for the delay. **

**Hefty Disclaimer: Oh Lordie, I don't own: Benedict Cumberbatch, Sherlock, BBC, Batman, Warner Bros., Funimation, Star Trek, Doctor Who, David Tennant (10****th**** doctor), Matt Smith (11****th****?), Tokyopop, DC comics, Marvel comics, Superman, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, L, Julie Powers, Homestuck, Firefly, American Ninja, Pandora Hearts, any of the Avengers, youtube, Apple, Portal, Chaos;Head (don't watch that anime), Kid Icarus, Hanza or Lucia (they belong to Genesis of Ginova—please let me know if I messed anything up with them), or ANY of the SSB/M characters and their various artifacts. I do own Oliver Stoelhart.**

**Right. Please read, enjoy, and review! FINAL ARC PEOPLE! **

**Chapter 58: The Con: Part 1**

"Up!" Oliver Stoelhart cried, wrenching open the curtains of the hotel room to reveal a sun that was much higher in the sky than it should have been, considering that they were supposed to have gotten up at seven.

Marth muttered something profane into his pillow, and Ike just pulled the sheets up over his head. Link was the only one who really woke up, and he immediately tumbled off the side of the bed and nearly pulled Roy out with him.

"What the heck are you doing in our room?" the Hylian screeched.

Oliver held up a rectangle of plastic between his fingers as if it explained the meaning of the universe. When Link gave him an uncomprehending look, he rolled his eyes and said, "Master key. Come on, up you get. It's already eight-thirty. Conference opens in half an hour. If you want a hope of getting into the complex before the crowds, you'll get up now." He clapped a hand on Marth's shoulder through the sheet, and the Altean stiffened for a moment before smacking the hand away and pulling the sheets back over his head with another incoherent mumble.

"Get up, or I swear I'm sending Ganondorf in here," Oliver threatened.

"I just want to stay in bed," Ike mumbled, looking hazily up at Oliver as he stretched. "Why do we have to go to this convention anyway? It doesn't matter so long as we're all there to perform this afternoon…"

"As your psychiatrist I'm telling you that you need to interact with normal teenagers as part of your experience here."

"Are you making the adults go?" Roy muttered, rubbing at his eyes with the heel of his hand.

"No. Can you see me trying to get Wario up?" Oliver asked. Roy squinted up at him and couldn't help smirking a little at the idea of the slim psychiatrist trying to roll the round dwarf out of bed.

"You're going to have a hard time getting me up too," Marth grumbled.

In a deft movement, Oliver reached down and yanked the sheets of Marth and Ike's bed off completely, letting them crumple on the floor. Marth sat up with a scowl and looked like he was debating throwing his pillow at Oliver's head.

Oliver looked smug. "Don't even think about it. Now get up. Maybe if you hurry you'll have time for breakfast."

As it turned out, they didn't have the time.

**xXx**

"People are staring," Ike said grumpily, approximately fifteen minutes later.

"Oh, wonder why," Marth said sarcastically around a mouthful of granola bar. "Eleven kids sitting in the middle of the courtyard, several of whom are wearing pajamas—"

"Hey," Sheik said defensively, ramming her hands into her flannel pockets. "Normal kids wear pajama bottoms in public too, it's not just us."

"But the normal kids haven't been let in yet," Samus pointed out, and then reached down to yank the map out from underneath Roy's hands. "The con doesn't open for another ten minutes. So we're getting weird stares from the normal people who are just here to make money, Ike."

A group of Japanese man in business suits paused to look at their little group until Marth said something explanatory to them and they left. They did look admittedly strange, even taking into account that they were the only kids there. Marth, Sheik and Roy were all still wearing their pajama bottoms. Samus and Zelda were the only ones who looked semi-presentable. Link's hair in particular was sticking up in every direction. Quincy's may have been on par, but he had covered his with a hat.

"Anyway, gates open in ten minutes," Zelda said, picking another granola bar up from the pile that they had pilfered from the hotel lobby before being shooed out by an impatient Dr. Stoelhart and pulling her wispy braid over her shoulder. "So we should probably figure out where we want to go before the crowds get crazy." Even from their somewhat isolated position in the middle of the conference center, they could still hear a dull roar coming from the gate on the eastern side.

"Looks like you could go one of six ways," Link said, tapping the map with the toe of his shoe. "Anime, movies, video games, TV shows, comics, or miscellaneous. First five have their own buildings." He pointed to the five multi-storied buildings that spindled out from the courtyard. "And miscellaneous meets here."

"What's miscellaneous?" Quincy asked perkily. He, Popo, and Pit were the only ones of the current group who had woken up when they were supposed to, and actually had a decent amount time to get dressed and eat breakfast as opposed to the five minutes that everybody else had.

"Memes," Link and Marth said sagely.

"We all have to be behind stage in the Nintendo room at seven," Sheik said, checking one of the clocks that were hung all over the courtyard. "So we've got, like…what…? Ten hours?"

"Yup," Link nodded, and then took pity on Quincy and Pit, who had been bouncing excitedly on the heels of their feet for the past minute. "Buddy system in effect: meet at the main Nintendo booth at six so we can figure out dinner and stuff—don't get kidnapped!" he hollered after the two of them, who were already sprinting off towards the anime building. "Don't let anybody drag you into creepy photos that'll end up on the internet! Don't get mixed up in a fangirl cat fight!"

"Gotcha!" Pit shouted over his shoulder, and then he and Quincy were gone.

"What about the rest of us?" Ike asked. "Who wants to do what?"

"What do you want to do?" Sheik asked him. He pulled a face and shrugged.

"I want to go check out video games," Marth announced. "See what's new in the wide world of Zelda."

Link scowled.

"TV," Sheik said quietly.

"What do you want to go look at?" Ike asked.

An awkward pause.

"…Benedict Cumberbatch?" she muttered. Samus and Zelda both grinned.

"Sounds like eggs," Roy said, reaching for his seventh granola bar.

"It's a guy from a BBC show," Sheik started to say embarrassedly and was saved further explanation by a crackle of static from the speakers followed by a robotic voice starting to count down from ten.

9…8…7….6….

"What do you think happens when they hit zero?" Link asked, turning around to look at the gates.

"What do you think?" Marth said dryly, his eyes focused on the gates.

2…1…0

Where there had been nobody before there was now suddenly a torrent of people in all shapes and sizes and every color imaginable, all spilling and dodging and shoving their way through the gate and flooding into the courtyard.

There was a moment of chaos as the brawlers snatched up the leftover granola bars for the rest of their breakfast and tried to edge out of the main current, but they didn't make it to safety in time. The river of people slammed into them, and suddenly everybody was shouting and grabbing and waving and screaming: but at the same time, nobody could hear, and nobody could move. Marth's hand slipped off of Samus' shoulder when Link staggered into the former. Sheik—due to her flexibility—wasn't getting battered around as much as everybody else, but quickly lost sight of the others and only by pure chance latched onto Zelda's arm. Ike caught Marth by the elbow and shouted something that the other boy couldn't hear. Poor Nana and Popo remained together, but were in danger of being trampled.

In the end, it was Roy who made it out first, dragging Nana and her brother by the shirtsleeves into the comics building, which was already almost as packed as the courtyard but at least not as dangerous. The three made their way to a relatively unattended Superman booth and glanced around looking for the others.

"See anybody?" Nana asked, slightly out of breath.

Roy looked around and saw lots of people, none of whom he recognized. "Um…no." He looked around the room resignedly. "Are either of you into Batman?"

**xXx**

"Jiminy Christmas, it's raining cosplayers," Marth commented offhandedly as he and Ike took shelter on the second story of the anime building, watching the crowds pour by underneath them. Being tall, neither of them had had as much trouble as Roy and the ice climbers but were still both glad to be out of the mess.

Ike nodded, and bit his lip. "Do you think everybody else is okay? That got crazy."

"Sure," Marth said easily. "You worry too much."

The anime building was sort of anti-stereotypical for a con, although none of the brawlers knew this. The people who were running GEEK had decided to do things a bit differently in an attempt to make everything easier to find. Everything was apparently broken up into five buildings, and the categories were divided into sub-groups within the buildings according to company. For example, Warner Bros was a big enough company that it might have an entire floor to itself in the movies building, while smaller companies would have clusters of booths all gathered in one area. Nintendo had its own floor in the gaming building, complete with a massive display stage. Only companies were allowed display space in the buildings. Invited artists and musicians and craftsmen were supposed to gather in the courtyard. As the crowd was starting to disperse, a few of them could be seen setting up show tables, preparing for the day.

In the anime building, Funimation held the largest stake, taking up the entirety of the bottom floor and even spilling out onto the top floor. Already, cosplayers with every possible combination of hair and skin tone were flooding inside, breaking into mock battles and witty repartee within their character roles.

"I think we picked the wrong building," Marth sighed.

**xXx**

"What luck," Sheik commented happily, threading her way through the crowds in the TV building. "We ended up right where we wanted to be."

"BBC!" Samus announced, making her way up to the second story where BBC's cluster was. Zelda followed after them, weaving through a group of Spocks who were heading for the Star Trek marathon.

"I hear they have a Dr. Who marathon set up for the entire con," she said to Sheik as they climbed up the staircase. "You into that?"

"Not so much," Sheik said. "It can get cheesy at times, but David Tennant was amazing."

"David Tennant is the only doctor," Samus agreed from further up. "But Matt Smith came pretty close."

"I want his fez," Sheik announced.

"You can probably buy one here," Zelda laughed.

"YES."

**xXx**

"Roy, what's Tokyopop?" Nana asked obliviously, pointing to the sign for the upper floor.

"Manga, I think," Roy said, absently watching a Superman cartoon being played on the DC half of the room, contrasting with Marvel, which was swamped with Avengers stuff.

"Manga's that Japanese comic book thing, right? The backwards girly books?" Popo clarified.

"They've got manga for boys too," Roy said, crouching down to admire a T-shirt for sale. "Shojo versus Shonen, you know?"

"I don't, sorry," Popo apologized, and then frowned. "…Was there ever a female Robin?"

"If there is, she was never very popul…." Roy said, and then trailed off as soon as he caught a glimpse of her. "OhsweetMarthainaskirt…That's hot."

"Shojo?" Nana asked pointedly, crossing her arms.

"Right, right," Roy grinned, lacing his fingers behind his head. "I always get them mixed up, but I think Shojo is the word for girl manga. It's usually love stories. Young girl meets young boy and they fall in love. Now _Shonen_, that's _so_ much cooler, that's—"

"Gee, thanks a lot, sexist!" Nana complained, smacking Roy's shoulder.

"I'm just saying that Shonen lends itself to much more complex plotlines and…"

"Oh, just because there's romance doesn't mean it's complex?" Nana cried, cutting quite the ridiculous figure as she glared up at Roy, hands balled up on her hips. "Haven't you ever been in love before? That's way more complicated than…than…Naruto!"

"I don't want to read about some sappy girl's feelings! There's no plot!" Roy insisted. And then… "Naruto is _incredibly_ complex!"

Nana snorted. "Please. I bet you any money I can find a Shojo manga with a plot that doesn't have to do with romance."

"Twenty bucks. There is _no_ way," Roy chuckled, crossing his arms across his chest. Nana stuck her tongue out at him and dashed up the stairs.

**xXx**

"Okay," Pit said, standing on his tiptoes and trying to edge around a Maes Hughes cosplayer to read the adult-height listing of times for a conference room within Funimation's floor of the anime building. "It says that the episode commentary isn't until two."

"Gosh darnit," Quincy muttered, scuffing his shoe against the floor. He and the angel had been wandering around the lower floor ever since they had run off, trying to find the Fullmetal Alchemist booth. Along the way, they had stumbled across several other fandoms they were familiar with and lots that they weren't. Pit had started taking a list of animes that they'd have to watch when they got back to the hotel. Death Note was top on the list—he had lost track of how many cosplayers he'd seen wandering around in a black wig, white shirt and jeans claiming to be a detective. They had been so engrossed in their fanboying that they hadn't even noticed Marth and Ike spill inside with the initial rush and sneak upstairs.

"Where to?" the pokemon trainer asked after a pause. "I don't want to stick around here until two."

"Video games, maybe?" Pit shrugged. "See if they have a new pokemon game or something? Check out the Ninty booth?"

"Sounds good," Quincy agreed. He turned on his heel and nearly ran into another Link cosplayer. "Sorry…"

"It's me, Quincy," the Link said awkwardly, pulling his hair away to show pointed ears that looked a bit too real to be plastic.

"Oh, sorry," Quincy apologized, not quite sure what to say: _'Oh sorry, I mistook you for…yourself…?'_

The Hylian didn't look too unhappy about the lack of a decent apology. Instead he just looked lost. "Have you seen any of the others?" he asked miserably. "I got separated and wound up here. I thought Marth and Ike went this way, but I haven't seen them. Have you guys?"

Pit shook his head. "Nope, but we weren't looking. How'd you get split up?"

"Riot when the front gates opened," Link sighed, twisting the hem of his shirt in his hands and then blinking at his stomach growled. "Have you guys gotten any food yet?"

Quincy shook his head and tilted back the brim of his hat. "No need," he said smarmily. "We gorged at the breakfast buffet in the hotel."

Link scowled and shifted his weight awkwardly from one leg to the other. "So…where are you two going?"

"We're going to the Nintendo booth," Pit said eagerly. "See what's new in the realm of 3D gaming."

"But we're coming back here at two for a Fullmetal Alchemist commentary," Quincy was quick to stick in.

Link rubbed the back of his neck and looked embarrassed. "Mind if I tag along until I find somebody else to hang out with?"

Pit and Quincy exchanged an awkward glance, both of them feeling like they were about to take on a third-wheel. "…Sure you can."

**xXx**

"Are you two together?"

Marth and Ike whirled around, Ike flushing and Marth's mouth dropping open to deliver a pithy remark, and stopped short.

Two girls were looking skeptically back at them, one dressed up like Julie Powers, and the other dressed up as something Homestuck related—goth and horned.

"You're the girl from the pool!" Marth shouted, pointing at Julie Powers, who cocked her hip and looked back at him uncomprehendingly for a minute before jabbing a finger back at him and yelling, "You're the guy with the real hair!"

"Real hair?" Ike asked confusedly.

"Hi," the Homestuck girl said bluntly, sticking out her hand. "My name's Lucia, and this,"—she indicated Julie Powers with a tilt of her head. "Is my sister Hanza. You two are?"

"I'm the guy with real hair, apparently," Marth said dryly, only to have the younger girl—Hanza—give him such a patronizing look that he smirked darkly and said, "Fine. I'm Prince Marth Lowell of Altea. What do you say to that, peasant?"

"Isn't Marth a girl's name?" Lucia asked innocently, sweeping a piece of dark hair back over her shoulder.

"_NO!_" Marth threw his hands up into the air and stalked over to the window to pout.

Ike made an apologetic gesture and introduced himself. Hanza smiled happily at him and Lucia just nodded. Marth continued to glower out of the window into the courtyard. After a moment, he pushed off of the glass and grabbed Ike by the elbow. "Come on, we're finding the others."

"Ah…okay?" Ike said awkwardly and waved hesitantly to the two girls as he pulled his sleeve out of Marth's hand and followed him down the staircase. "See you later?"

Hanza smiled. "Nice to meet you."

**xXx**

Oliver was actually enjoying a moment of personal time—or as close to personal time as he got, which was basically listening to music he enjoyed while filling out paperwork.

Something 'pinged' on his email window, and he unhappily minimized the tax forms he had been working on and pulled email up to see an anonymous chat message in the corner of the screen. It was apparently from 'y.o.u.n.9ster ' and simply said: _"i c u"_

He glanced furtively over his shoulder and suffered an awkward moment where his hands hovered over the keyboard and he debated whether or not he should turn off the laptop or reply. He pinched the bridge of his nose and resignedly tapped out _"Bluff."_ and rapped the enter key.

He waited a few minutes, switching his gaze from the screen to the steady flow of people passing by his lonely table in the back of the room where he had set up his laptop and wi-fi booster. He had just started entering data into the tax form again when—

"Hey."

To his credit, Oliver didn't scream or fall out of his chair. He started, and the chair teetered dangerously for a moment, but he didn't fall.

"Hey there," he pulled off his headphones and said to Link, who was looking down at him. "Sorry, I thought you were somebody else."

"I've been getting that a lot," Link said sheepishly. He nodded at the chair next to Oliver. "Can I…?"

"Of course." A pause. "Link, are you by yourself?"

"I lost the others, yeah," Link sighed. "I was here with Quincy and Pit, but they've wandered off now too."

Oliver 'hm'ed somewhat unsympathetically and went back to his tax forms—they were already late. When he was sure Link wasn't looking, he pulled up his email window again to see that he had been messaged again: _"fine. bluff. worth a shot tho."_

The psychiatristsighed, and then shot another glance over at Link, who was still looking morosely over at the rest of the room, trying to find somebody else he knew.

"Feel free to run off whenever," Oliver clarified awkwardly, and then snapped his headphones back over his ears.

**xXx**

The girls were threading their way through the television building, having exhausted the ability of their neon wristbands to get them free stuff. Sheik was sporting a new fez cap and a shirt that said "The Game, Mrs. Hudson, is on!" courtesy of the BBC booth people and a red scarf with the Starfleet insignia on it. She seemed to find the color extremely amusing, but the other girls didn't get the joke. Zelda and Samus had both restrained themselves in the clothing department, but were holding posters underneath their arms.

"What is Firefly, exactly?" Sheik asked as they passed by the seventh tall male wearing suspenders and claiming to be named Malcolm.

"TV show—I think it's a western," Samus said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Should we see if we can find some of the others?"

"Are any of the others even into Sherlock?"

Samus shrugged. "I made Marth watch the first episode, but he lost interest pretty fast."

Zelda shot Samus a startled look, and then her expression melted into something more understanding. "What were you wearing at the time?"

Samus thought about it for a minute. "I think a tank top."

"Well there you go." Zelda said dismissively. "Try it again when you're wearing a sweater."

"Oh hey," Sheik said, pointing over at the corner of the ground floor. "They've got sign-ups for American Ninja try-outs."

"I think it'd be considered cheating if you joined, Shiek," Samus grumbled, latching onto Sheik by the shirt collar and towing her away. "Considering that you aren't American and actually _are_ a ninja."

Sheik pouted as she was pulled outside, and then threw up a hand to shield her from the sunlight that had come out while they were inside. "Fine," she grumbled. "Let's go find some of the others."

**xXx**

"Read it and weep!" Nana said triumphantly, shoving a book under Roy's nose. "Pandora Hearts: complete shojo and an actual plot."

Roy paged through the book skeptically. "I don't think this is shojo."

"Oh come on! Look at it!" Nana cried. "It's such a girl's manga! Look at their eyes! Where's my twenty bucks?"

Popo was pointing over the railings into the center of the stage. "Hey guys, we got a Batman vs. Ironman fight going on down over here…"

"No way," Roy said, shoving the book back into Nana's hands and running over to watch. "Go Batman!"

"Aw no, Tony Stark all the way," Popo contradicted happily. "See, look?" The Batman took a shot to the codpiece and stumbled backwards, but a more appropriately dressed one leapt right in to take his place, a female Robin leaping in beside him. A Captain America and Hawkeye darted into to help the Ironman. A few minutes later, two Supermans vaulted over the staircase railing and ran into the mix, armed with squirt guns, joining up with the caped crusaders, and an anorexic Hulk and silly-string-armed Spider-Man joined in as well. With a few moments, everybody in costume was swarming en masse to the center of the room, and all of the spectators retreated to the next floor and cheered for their side. The people staffing the booths didn't particularly seem to mind that their merchandise was occasionally getting stomped or used as ammunition—in fact, they were screaming the loudest for their side to win.

There wasn't a whole lot of room left against the railing, and the three brawlers were occasionally forced to use their elbows to maintain their good view of the chaos below. Nana and Popo were screaming for Marvel, but Roy stubbornly held out for DC. Before one of the Supermen took a chair to the face but after Deadpool had pulled out a plastic sword and started fencing with a Katana, a hand came down on Roy's shoulder, and he whirled around, prepared to slap away anybody who thought he could take his spot, only to nearly tumble into Sheik.

"Where did you come from?" he asked, having to shout to be heard.

"We were looking for you," Sheik yelled back, peering around Roy's shoulder to confirm that Nana and Popo were with him. "We got bored. You know they're showing Star Trek over in the TV building?"

"Who's 'we?'" Roy asked, dividing his attention between Sheik and the brawl below, which was now involving several members of security who were trying to break the whole mess up.

"Me, Zelda, and Samus," she replied, squeezing in to look down the railing as well and biting back a grin. "So what happened here? Somebody insult Bruce Wayne's mother?"

"I don't even know," Roy mumbled, looking over at Popo for an explanation, but the ice climber hadn't heard the initial question, he was so busy cheering. "But it sure got crazy fast."

"Looks like we missed the majority of it," Sheik said unhappily, pointing as security finally broke into the center ring and shoved the primary agitators away from one another, threating in loud and burly voices to throw out anybody who continued fighting.

"You'll be able to watch it on youtube tomorrow," Roy assumed. "So where're Zelda and Samus?"

**xXx**

"Do you think the Nintys would let me get an xBox?" Marth asked offhandedly as he and Ike fought the swarming crowds in the courtyard, wading their way towards the video game building.

"No." Ike laughed at the idea. "They barely let you get an Apple."

Marth squinted in the sun and turned around to make sure that Ike was still behind him, and then frowned. "Don't look now," he said quietly, "But I think you picked up a fangirl."

Ike, completely ignoring the Altean, turned right around, and very nearly whacked a Portal cosplayer in the face with his elbow. The girl skipped backwards, hands flying up in a very apologetic, un-Chell -like way.

"Sorry, sorry," she stammered. "I just wanted to ask, is your hair natural?"

The two brawlers shared a look, and Marth finally said, "No, it's dyed."

"Who're you cosplaying as?"

"Takumi Nishijo," Marth said without a pause. "From Chaos;Head. And…erm…" He gestured lamely at Ike, unable to think of another character with blue hair.

"Ike, from Fire Emlem." Ike shrugged, giving Marth a _'if the shoe fits'_ look that nearly made Marth facepalm at the his friend's complete lack of imagination.

"Ah, okay, just curious," the girl grinned. "Are you two together?"

Marth made an aggravated sound and looked like he wanted to kick a puppy. Ike just sighed and shook his head. "No, we're not like that."

"Ah, sorry, sorry," she waved her hands in front of her face again and darted off.

"What is the world coming to?" Marth muttered unhappily.

**xXx**

Link suddenly leapt from his seat and ran off into the crowd, causing Oliver to lift his headphones off for a minute to watch the boy disappear among the people.

A few minutes later he was back, throwing himself into the chair with a sigh.

"Problem?" Oliver hazarded.

"Thought I saw Ike, but it turned out to just be a cosplayer," Link explained, kicking his feet up onto the table. "Seriously, I have no idea where Pit and Quincy ran off to, and I don't know where anybody else is."

"Well," Oliver tried to comfort. "If all else fails and you end up having a boring day, just remember that the convention is lasting a week. Tomorrow will be better."

"Sure hope so."

**xXx**

"So is Kid Icarus a good game or not?" Quincy asked of Pit, who was trying his hand at a demo.

"Gameplay-wise it's epic," Pit said immediately, swiping the touchscreen with his stylus to flip the viewpoint. "As for the plot, I don't really know."

"How don't you know?" Quincy asked curiously. Given that his life was never canonized in video-game form, he was always sort of intrigued by how they altered true events to make them more entertaining for the gamer.

"Well, this hasn't happened to me yet," Pit admitted. "So I guess it's going to happen…? And I talk differently in the game then I do here—I apparently grow into a bit of a spazz."

Quincy laughed.

"Heya kid," Marth said, spontaneously appearing to lean on Quincy's shoulder. "Have you guys seen Link? We ran into Sheik and the others just now and nobody's seen him since this morning."

Quincy and Pit shrugged. "He was with us for awhile," the pokemin trainer admitted. "But then we sort of lost him when we came in here."

"Ah." Marth scratched his head and pivoted in a circle, taking in the various booths set up with demos. "Do you think he'd stay here if he got lost?"

"No idea." Ike shrugged and hooked his thumbs in his beltloops.

"Do you think we should go look for him?"

"Probably."

"Will we go look for him?"

"…Maybe…? Depends on what new games they have demos of."

**xXx**

"You _JERK!_" Link hollered that night, slapping Marth over the head with a shoe hard enough to leave a mark. The teenager stumbled backwards with a yelp, and then shot back to his feet with a roar of "What the heck was that for?" that earned a glare from Oliver and the other staffers who were trying to keep all of the brawlers quiet behind stage.

Link reengaged the argument in a whisper, grabbing Marth by the lapels and flinging the slighter boy into a wall. "I was sitting there with _Stoelhart_ _all _day, looking for you guys. Do you have _any_ idea how much my day has _sucked?_"

"We were looking for you too," Marth snapped, prying Link's hands from his costume. "Why is this _my _fault? Go slap _Zelda_ with your shoe: she didn't find you either. You were tucked back in the middle of nowhere, how were we supposed to know where you were? This place is huge—let go, Link. At least Ike and I _tried._"

"For the record, we tried to find you too," Sheik said, gesturing at herself and the other humans who were gathered behind her. "So why don't you take a chill pill and try not to get lost tomorrow, 'kay?"

Ganondorf chuckled. "And here I thought getting out of bed would have been a waste."

"Shut it," Link threatened. "I am not in the mood."

"I watched the Avengers today," Sonic said in a desperate attempt to change the subject. "The hotel TV's have a movie theater option."

"I saw the Avengers fighting Batman," Roy said triumphantly. "Beat that."

Sonic admitted that that was ever-so-slightly cooler.

"Right, I need you guys to act like civilized children and adults for a few minutes," Oliver announced quietly as an announcer on Nintendo's stage started taking control of the waiting crowd. "And then you'll be free to take out your anger on anybody as you see fit."

"Wait, we're brawling?" Pit blurted. Nobody knew exactly what their performance was going to be. "In front of everybody?"

"Yes. The stage is about twenty-feet by twenty, so you should have a decent amount of space to move around in," Oliver explained. "We'll be sending you out in groups of four, so I figured that we'd just go in order of your hotel rooms, to keep things simple."

"Works for me," Link said vehemently.

"Glad to hear it," Oliver said amicably. "Because you're going first." As an afterthought, he added, "Please don't kill any innocent bystanders. I already have too much paperwork."

"No promises," Link said dryly as he pushed aside the curtain and stepped out onto the platform. A spotlight focused on him, setting his chain mail glittering, and the announcer cried out, "The Hero of Time!" The crowd went crazy, and Link couldn't help but grin, saluting them with the Master Sword.

"I give you your swordsmen!" the announcer roared into a microphone when all four boys were situated in the four corners of the stage. As stages went, it was incredibly boring: just a flat, padded, flame-retardant surface. But with the dim lighting and spotlights, it felt much cooler than it actually was. The audience loved it—because there were no obstacles, everybody could see.

"FIGHT!" the announcer shouted, and all four boys sprang from their corners, four blades meeting one another in the middle of the stage with a huge shriek of metal on metal, barely audible through the sound of the crowd.

Oliver watched from the sidelines, smiling as he watched the faces in the audience light up as they took in these physical beings—these personifications of their heroes—fighting fight before them, using moves that were familiar to everybody who had ever picked up a wiimote. Nintendo had really outdone themselves with the warps, bringing these miraculous children through from their own worlds to this great melting pot called earth, letting them taste a little normalcy before they were thrown back into the war and chaos that had made them heroes.

He was thinking that he should have written that philosophical thought down when his phone vibrated, its ring inaudible through the general noise. He plucked it out, and saw a text message scroll across: _'i c u.'_

_'bluff'_ he tapped back out.

_'No.'_ came the reply. And then, _'there's a storm coming Jaden. u ready?'_

**xXx**

**So, for everybody who was concerned that I died because I dropped off the face of the internet for a month: rest assured that I am alive and well and nothing's wrong-I just have been swamped with school stuff and probably won't be able to reply to PMs and all that jazz until after finals. I'm very sorry.**

**Next chapter we finally meet Oliver's femme fatale. **

**So who else besides me watches Sherlock and was completely stunned by the last episode and spent a week trying to figure out how he did it? _Sogo_ and I figured it out!**

**Also, I saw the Avengers, and honestly the only thing I could think of was "Loki kind of looks like how I imagine Marth…" It's messed up and crazy, but they look the same when they smile! X_x I have a Loki complex now. **

**The song Oliver was listening to was "The Rifle's Spiral" by the Shins, for anybody who cares.**

**Next chapter will include a lot more of the anime/video game characters you guys wanted. **

**I'm trying really hard to finish this up before August. Only two more months of The Game!**

**Please review!**


	59. Chapter 59: The Con pt 2

**WHAT IS THIS? A WEEKLY UPDATE! *0* NO WAY! …So, apparently I've been suffering from what the internet has been calling "Loki feels" as of late…? Tom Hiddleston is consuming my life. HALP.**

**Thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr_; I hope I brought out the inner nerds. That'd make my day. ~ Thanks to _seqka711_; Oooh…that close. ~ Thanks to _SakuraDreamerz_; Yay! You're all caught up! ^_^ ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Dah. Finals. X_x I can't get enough. ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; NOEZ. Well, maybe. We'll see. XD There is a fight in this chapter. I hope you enjoy. ~ Thanks to _Caxe_; Wootz! I'm glad you like Pit, even though he's quite different than his Uprising incarnation. ~ Thanks to _Upsilon Forty-Two_; YAY! You're all caught up! ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee_; Yay, I'm glad I made you laugh. XD ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; I DID FIGURE IT OUT. Y'see, there was a truck full of bags that pulled away right as John ran up. We think Sherlock jumped into that to cushion his fall and then jumped back off while John was busy being hit by a bicyclist. Wild theory, but also entertaining: I wondered if the biker had some of the Baskerville drug with him, thus making John more likely to believe that Sherlock was dead? But yeah…I have my theories. I'm still looking forward to your chapter. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Maplesong_; Dun dun duuuuuuuuun. ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; Yes. I would bow to all of those things and Loki. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; Righty-o. XD It just became my goal to cram as many of those things left on the list into the next chapter. We'll see how that goes. ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; Neopets? XD Ahh…I thought everybody'd forgotten about those. ~ Thanks to _Lost Triforce_; Well done catching up! Ah, ninja pirates…Now I have to figure out how the heck to work those in. Oliver's part ninja, does that count? ~ Thanks to _SKTB_; Ooh, me gusta. Accidental reference was accidental. XD ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIII_; Ah, no problem. Sorry for the constant nosebleeds…Or…I would be sorry, but now I'm doing on purpose, so…XD ~ And thanks to _Sogo_; YUS. I think we all agree that we need that shirt. **

**I hope you guys all did okay on your finals and are enjoying summer (unless you have summer school, in which case: my sympathies). b^^ I bombed my math one, but my grade was salvaged by piles of extra credit, so it's all good. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sherlock, Yu-Gi-Oh (the only yu-gi-oh I ever watched on a regular basis was 5Ds…), Twilight, FMA, Edward Scissorhands, Death Note, The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, the Matrix, Apple, Assassin's Creed, Legend of Korra, Tiger & Bunny, The Thomas Crown Affair (epic movie), Inception, Deviantart, Smosh, the nyan cat, _Sir StarIII_ and his duct-tape, The Avengers, Loki's Army, Tom Hiddleston (I told you he's taking over my life), or any of the SSBB/M stuff. Or Nintendo. I do own Oliver Stoelhart, Est Benignus, and Kiersten O'Riley. **

**Yup…Pretty much just a filler chapter with Oliver-…ness…I'm really trying hard to set up for the finale at this point. **

**Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**Oh, BTW, this is one of the, like, three chapters where somebody utters a curse word. Hope you guys can handle it. X_x**

**xXx**

**Chapter 59: The Con: Part 2**

"Whoa," Oliver said upon coming down into the lobby and finding all of the humanoid brawlers already lounging around in plush chairs, fully clothed, most balancing plates laden with bagels and scrambled eggs on their stomachs. "This has got to be a first."

"You're the one who told us we'd have merchandise signing at nine-thirty," Marth pointed out grumpily as he chased the last of his eggs around his plate with a fork. "And I was all for sleeping in and avoiding that little bombshell, but _noooo_…"

"We figured it'd be too funny to pass up," Sheik sniggered, smearing cream-cheese onto a bagel. "What with gender confusions and all that jazz."

"…Right," Oliver said distantly, pirouetting in a slow circle and fiddling with something in the pocket of his slacks. "So where are the others? They're all supposed to be up and about too."

"They're eating breakfast in a dining hall," Roy said, waving a slice of toast towards a pair of closed double-doors. "The staff seemed to think that Kirby vacuuming up eggs would freak people out."

"Probably for the best," Oliver agreed, forcing a smile and reaching over to steal half of Pit's bagel. The angel offered him the remainder of the bacon strips, but the psychiatrist just grinned and motioned that he should finish it. "So, today is the day I'm sticking with you guys."

"Aw…what?" Marth moaned, sprawling across the sofa and throwing a leg up onto Link's shoulder as he glared up at the ceiling. "Why?"

"For once it doesn't concern you." Oliver straightened up and crossed his arms, indicating that this train of thought was not to be pursued.

Marth perked up. "What is this?" he exclaimed sarcastically. "Is Dr. Stoelhart actually doing something for personal reasons?"

"I do a lot of things for personal reasons; I just generally keep them to myself."

"Was sending me to an amusement park personal?" Marth queried, attempting to keep an innocent expression on his face.

"Indeed it was—first you tried to look me up on the internet and then you lied to me."

"You know there's nothing about you on the internet, don't you?"

"Yes. I'm a boring person. Problem?"

Shiek emitted a quiet squeak and whispered something to Samus and Zelda, who both grinned and looked at Dr. Stoelhart with a new eye.

"Boring people don't flip out when they're googled," Ike pointed out rationally, curious in the blossoming argument despite himself. "Especially when they know there's nothing there."

"I didn't 'flip out,'" Oliver corrected, tilting his head to the side. "I responded to the intrusion into my privacy."

"Yeah, normal psychiatrists don't do that, especially if there's noth — "

"I have a right to my privacy."

"But stalking my internet?"

"It's also my job to keep an eye on you."

"By stalking my internet history."

"Yes. Problem?"

Another titter of laughter from the girls. Oliver gave them a patronizing look, and they promptly shut up. Marth sighed and rolled over on the couch, turning his shoulder to the psychiatrist, who clapped his hands briskly and turned away from the Altean. "Should we be getting ready to leave?"

"Aw_ no_," Roy moaned. "You weren't being serious about staying with us?"

"Yes indeed," Oliver said with a smile, showing no response to the negativity of Roy's question. "I suppose I should go and grab the others, don't you think?"

"Sure," Sheik said dully, manipulating the last forkful of eggs into her mouth as Oliver strode off to throw open the doors to the dining hall and wave everybody inside out.

Zelda snatched the fork out of Sheik's hand to throw at Marth's shoulder. "So what now?"

"What do you mean 'what now?'" Marth snapped, throwing the utensil back at her.

"Dude, I am NOT spending another day with him," Link hissed vehemently. "I say we make a break for it."

"Seriously?" Ike said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Pit inserted anxiously, but Marth was already vaulting over the back of the sofa and sprinting for the door, and Link and Roy were right on his heels. After a moment's consideration, Zelda darted out after them too and Sheik swung herself out of the seat and followed. Samus cursed and ran off just as Oliver turned around. Ike, who had just risen out of his seat, slumped back down into it after receiving a barbed green-gold glare from the psychiatrist, who was taking an inventory of those who had remained as he walked back over the lounge area, the other brawlers following behind him, all wearing _'ooh-somebody's-in-trouble'_ expressions.

"So…what happened here?" Oliver asked Ike, who shrugged lamely. Stoelhart turned to look at the ice-climbers, Pit, and Quincy. "Anybody?"

"Bit obvious, isn't it?" Quincy said. "They ran off."

"Are they planning to be where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there?"

"Dunno."

Oliver made an unprofessional noise and cupped his face in his hands for a moment, and then his cell phone buzzed from his pocket and he only had to glance at the screen before dropping it again and glancing almost nervously over his shoulder.

"Are you okay, Sir?" Nana asked quietly.

"Fine," Oliver said. "Come on, let's go."

**xXx**

"Explain to me why you ran into the anime building, of all places," Roy said, catching onto Marth's shirtsleeve so that he wouldn't get lost in the crowds that were already filling the room despite the fact that it was only five-past-nine.

"A) It's the closest and B) Ike and I spent time in here yesterday and I know places to hide," Marth said cheerily, turning around to look at the group of teenagers behind him. "Speaking of, don't tell me Ike didn't come with us."

"I don't think so," Zelda said.

"Bummer," Sheik grumbled, edging around a group of Yu-Gi-Oh protagonists. "So are we still planning to go the merchandise signing or what?"

"I suppose, but make sure that Stoelhart doesn't handcuff you to a chair or something," Link said and belatedly noticed the shirt that Sheik was wearing. "Uhm, excuse me, 'Team Edward?' _Seriously?_"

She yanked the shirt away from her chest to show the third word written across the bust. "Team Edward ELRIC. Haven't you seen these shirts? A guy gave this to me yesterday when I was in here looking for you."

"I saw a 'Team Edward Scissorhands' T-shirt yesterday," Roy commented.

"Yeah, but who's Elric?"

"It's that anime that the kid and Quince have been watching lately," Marth explained. "The one where they ran into your room at three in the morning last week saying—"

"'HE CAN'T BE DEAD!'" Link mimicked. "Yeah, I remember that now."

"I saw a guy with a 'Team Guy-Who-Almost-Ran-Bella-Over-With-A-Car' shirt at The Brink once," Samus said to Roy, who sniggered.

"Hey, are you—" a woman dressed completely in black leather asked, tapping Marth on the shoulder.

"NO," Marth cut her off. "I am not gay. Thanks for asking."

"I was just going to ask if you were supposed to be cosplaying as somebody or if your hair is just normally like that," the woman snapped, thin eyebrows coming together above brown-blue eyes. "No need to spaz on me."

"Who are_ you_ cosplaying as?" Zelda asked curiously.

"Naomi Misora?" Marth guessed sarcastically.

"Leather jackets do not Misora Massacre make," the woman quipped. "Besides, my hair's the wrong color." She plucked at a strand of brown. "And too short."

The Altean couldn't help but grin a little. "Just a guess. So you're Trinity then? From The Matrix?"

"Come on," she teased, punching his shoulder in a way that was just a bit too friendly and had Samus scowling. "You didn't answer my question."

"If you must know, no, I'm not cosplaying. Are you?"

"Nope. This is just me." She held her arms out in a self-explanatory way.

"Name?" Samus demanded, all but waving an arm in-between Marth and the woman to separate them.

"Eve Macintosh."

Samus shook her head. "Nope, not cutting it. There is no way that's a real name."

"What's yours then?" the woman challenged, dark eyes flashing.

"We're the Nintendo group," Zelda said quietly. "I'm assuming you can guess most of our names."

"Ah…" Eve's eyes skipped back over to Marth. "The hair makes sense now. I saw you performing last night."

"Lots of people did," Samus snapped.

"So, if you're with the Nintendo troupe," Eve said slowly. "Are you familiar with a man calling himself Dr. O.V. Stoelhart?"

"You mean Oliver Stoelhart?" Roy clarified. "Yeah, he's our psychiatrist. What do you want with him?"

"V?" Sheik asked curiously.

"Oliver Valentine," Eve explained, and then turned back to Roy, tugging at her lip with her two front teeth. "Is he at the convention? I've been trying to find him for ages, but…" She held up a cutting edge phone and gestured helplessly. "He never tells me where he is."

"Why would you be looking for that guy?" Link asked sullenly. "He's a total jerk."

"I knew him when we were in college," Eve explained. "And yes, he is a jerk, but I need to talk to him. It's sort of important."

"So are you a psychiatrist as well?" Zelda asked, rolling up the sleeves on her plaid shirt and buttoning them past her elbows.

Eve bit down hard on her lip, almost like she was fighting back a grin. "Child psychology," she said. "But that's not important. Could you please take me to him?"

"Oliver?" Sheik said, noticing the woman's habit of not referring to Stoelhart by name.

"Yes." Eve Macintosh was all smiles. "Could you please help me find him?"

**xXx**

"Sir, why do you keep doing that?" Ike asked Oliver, who seemed to be constantly spinning in circles, bright eyes always scanning the heavy crowds as they made their way through the more Western booths to try and get to the staircase leading to Ninendo's floor. Thankfully, they weren't having as hard of a time moving through the masses as they had yesterday—the sight of a real life Bowser and Ganondorf leering down at you was enough to make most people move out of the way pretty fast.

"Doing what?" Oliver said distantly, nearly tripping over a discarded pink bunny plush that had been dropped on the floor.

"Hey!" Sonic hollered, pointing at a TV that was displaying a new demo. "They're making Assassin's Creed III! And it's set in America!"

"Figures," Oliver said under his breath, but nobody heard him.

"Sweetness!" Quincy and Pit sang, breaking off from the group to go check it out. They had to shove their way past a Mako-Korra couple but eventually were able to get to the console. The brawling group moved on without them, figuring that they'd catch up.

"Doctor," Ganondorf drawled, clapping a heavy hand on the psychiatrist's shoulder. "You're going to run into a wall unless you get a firmer grip on your surroundings, and I fear that you are the only thing stopping this little outing from causing a national incident and I am currently enjoying my freedom. So if you would watch your step…"

"Yes, sorry," Oliver smiled bemusedly and ducked out from underneath the giant's arm. "I'm touched by your concern."

Ike rolled his eyes, and was shoved by Bowser as a result. Biting his tongue (because even he wasn't idiotic enough to try to take on Ganondorf, Bowser, and Dedede all at the same time), he fell back into the group a ways back and wished miserably that he'd made up his mind and run off with Marth and the others.

**xXx**

"Favorite anime?" Marth asked Samus as they exited the building, trying to make up for the attention that he hadn't been devoting to her as of late. The two of them were leading the small group across the courtyard, making for the video game building.

"Not huge on anime," Samus replied, still peeved with him. Eve Macintosh was walking a few steps behind them but was still annoyingly within earshot. "You?"

"Tiger and Bunny, a close second being FMA. Same sort of craziness. Favorite movie then?"

She tried to give it serious thought, realizing that he was trying to be nice. "I…I don't know."

"Favorite TV show?" he tried again.

"Sherlock." This time there was no hesitation.

"Oh, yeah, you tried to make me watch that…"

"Zelda says I should try again when I'm wearing something a little more modest," Samus said wryly.

Marth laughed unashamedly. "That might be wise."

"What's your favorite movie?" she asked him.

"The Thomas Crown Affair," he answered immediately. "But Inception gave it a run for its money."

Samus tried to think if she had ever even heard of the first movie he had referenced as they passed by the craftsmen tables. A lot of the featured artists were popular on deviantart, but there were a few freelance comic illustrators and various hobbyists who had just been invited for the heck of it. Two boys whose movies were viral on youtube had set up a stage near the center of the courtyard and were shouting things out to a large audience. A human nyan cat was circling the entire area, and the brawlers plus Eve had to dodge around the outside of its path.

"Jeez!" Sheik yelped as she nearly ran into a kid with a trollface duct-taped to his head. He laughed in a fashion one might expect from a kid with a trollface taped to his cranium and ran off.

"Oh the internet," Link quipped. "Refuge for the insane."

"What the heck is that?" Roy pointed to the movies building, where a massive group of green-clad girls was congregating.

"Loki's army," Marth said sagely. "They're showing The Avengers again in there in about twenty minutes. The guy has quite a following. Ninety-six percent of the internet agrees that he's epic."

"I thought Loki was the bad guy." Roy scratched his head.

"Bad-boy complex," Eve hypothesized.

"Or the 'Tom-Hiddleston-is-adorable complex,'" Sheik said arguably.

Link turned around to make an 'ew' face at her, and she just shrugged. He looked to Zelda for support, but she shook her head and said, "He does have an excellent smile."

"So where do you think Oliver Stoelhart will be?" Eve asked, cutting Link off before he could say something unprintable.

"He'll be in the video game building with the others. We're supposed to be signing posters and stuff in about…" Marth glanced up at a conveniently placed clock. "Now."

"Ah," Eve sighed, and followed the brawlers as they picked up their pace.

**xXx**

"We really were going to show up," the Altean promised, flinging himself into a chair that had been waiting for him and reaching out to accept the first thing that was shoved in his face: in this case, a T-shirt.

Oliver didn't look convinced. He was glowering at the five teenagers who had slipped into the room belatedly and were now trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing. The others weren't being very helpful, leaving the deviants to figure it out for themselves.

"Really," Marth assured the psychiatrist. "We were—but we ended up meeting a friend of yours and…" He was cut off by Ike hollering abuse at him from down the table, much to the fangirls' enjoyment.

"You could have come along if you weren't so slow, so can it!" Marth finally shouted, throwing a sharpie marker at Ike's head. "Jeez."

Oliver crouched down by Marth's side, trying to be as unobtrusive as possible while the prince played up his natural charm as he scrawled a regal signature across a blushing girl's notebook. "A friend of mine?"

"Yeah, she's an…um…-Wow, that is the best steampunk outfit I have ever seen," Marth commented to a girl who appeared to be dressed up in some Victorian version of Red Riding hood. She grinned and held out a Nintendo poster. The sharpie squeaked across its surface, and Marth finally gave Oliver an aside in-between jesting with the next person in line. "She said she was a child psychologist and that you'd known one another in college." A pause while he picked up another conversation, leaving Oliver to clutch at the edge of the table. "She also said you were a jerk."

"I bet she did," Oliver muttered. "Did she give a name?"

"Yeah, er…Eve…something. It was something to do with an apple. Sam seemed to think it was a fake name."

"Samus has good instincts," Oliver sighed. "What did she refer to me as? The woman?"

Marth set the pen down and fixed his psychiatrist with a dissecting look. "Oliver," he said slowly, nearly stuttering at the thought of referring to Stoelhart by his first name. "She just called you Oliver. Oliver Valentine St—"

"Damn."

"I—Stoelhart! Dude, what is going on?" Marth twisted in his seat, but the man was gone. With a frown, Marth stood up and walked behind the long table, making his way over to Pit. "Hey, kid, do you know what's up with the shrink?"

The angel looked up at him blankly. "No…? What's up?"

"Well, we met a friend of his but he freaked out when I told him." Marth crossed his arms across his chest. "I don't know, it's just weird. He's the one who wanted to come to this con, you know? And he's been acting weird lately, and it just seems off to me. He's always seemed a bit…freaky."

"Pot calling the kettle black," Samus teased.

"No, I'm serious. You know how you all freaked out and thought he was the killer when Ike and I got shot? Why did you think that?" Now the majority of the table was looking at him, as was everybody in earshot. "What do you guys know about him that makes you think he'd be able to kill somebody?"

"I guess it's that we don't know anything about him," Sheik said at length. "And the little stuff that we do know is pretty weird in and of itself. He's sadistic, but he's a psychiatrist."

"I don't think he's really a sadist," Pit tried to stick in.

"We know from the invisi-brawl that he's good with guns," Link said. "And he likes keeping secrets. There's nothing about him on the internet, which is weird."

"Not to mention he flipped out and sent me to an amusement park when I tried to google him," Marth agreed.

"He has a safe in his closet," Popo murmured. "10-character password protected."

"I think you guys are over-reacting," Pit protested. "Dr. Stoelhart is nice. He takes care of us."

"Hey!" somebody near the exit shouted. "There's a fight going on outside!"

All of the brawlers looked at one another, and simultaneously stood up to make for the door.

**x-A few seconds Prior-x**

The first thing he did was fire off a text message to the anonymous number. _'You win. Meet at hotel. No collateral.'_

Something trilled in front of him, and he glanced up just in time to see a smiling young woman in a leather jacket waving a vibrating phone and the fist flying towards his face.

Marth and company burst out of the building just in time to see Oliver get decked. Everybody's jaw dropped in unison and nobody moved, torn between wanting to run to help and feeling the strong urge that they should stay out of the way.

"That was for letting me think you were dead for seven months," Eve snapped, wiping bloodied knuckles on her pants and standing over Oliver, who was cupping a hand to a bleeding cheek and scrambling to his feet again.

"What are you doing, Riley?" he hissed back, voice surprisingly steady for somebody who had just taken a fist to the face.

She tossed her head to the side and said snidely, "_'Opus loqui tecum.' _I just want to talk, Jaden, but _no_. _You_ had to turn it into a game."

He scowled.

"Oh, right." She pressed a finger to her lips. "Latin is your thing."

"Latin was Est's thing. What are you—" He tried to take a step forward, but she held out a hand to stop him. Security was starting to edge their way into the courtyard, but nobody really noticed the grunts yet. A ring had formed around the two of them, leaving a large amount of space that nobody was willing to cross.

"Jeez, it's been nine years, man. Let it go," Eve laughed. "You know Est wasn't even her real name. Est Benignus; Eve Macintosh…Oliver Stoelhart. There's nothing for you to hold onto because she wasn't real. And neither is Dr. Oliver Stoelhart. So why don't you grow up and stop trying to be a father and let—"

"Valentine? Seriously?" Oliver interrupted with a laugh, cocking his head to the side and meeting her glare.

She shrugged. "Just a bit of fun. Funny, the things you choose to hold onto. The Latin, the photo, your pens, the passcodes, your games…"

"Are you done? Because we are getting a lot of ugly stares."

"Look, this was the only way I could get in touch with you," she said plainly. "And I had to get in touch with you, Jaden: this concerns what you've gotten yourself tangled up in."

"I don't understand," Oliver replied. "I am a psychiatrist. No matter what I used to be that's what I am now: it's just a boring desk job with bragging rights, Riley. I haven't gotten messed up in anything serious in almost a year. What could I possibly be 'involved' in?"

She met his eyes, and then suddenly dropped down in an attempt to sweep his leg out. He leapt backwards and blocked the capoeira kick she flung out from the ground, attempting and failing to grab her ankle as she flipped herself back to her feet.

The security started to move in a bit faster.

"This," Eve grunted as she launched into a roundhouse kick, aimed at his head. "Is about Nintendo."

He ducked underneath the limb and, off-balance, fell back onto his elbows, surprise flashing across his face. "_What?_" He rolled back to his feet just in time to deflect a right jab, and then took the following left hook, again dropping onto the concrete, holding his stomach.

"We should help him," Pit said urgently, looking like he was about to launch off right then and there. "He doesn't have combat training or—"

"Yes he does," Snake said gravely, nearly standing on his tiptoes to see across the crowds. "If you watch the way he moves, you can tell he's had training of some sort."

"Like, military?" Ike guessed. "Or just a hobby?"

"How should I know?" Snake rolled his eyes. "Whatever it is, it's disciplined. He's holding back."

"What about Nintendo?" Oliver asked, face flushed as he finally got a grab on Eve's foot and twisted it out so he could drop his body weight on her knee, dropping her none-too-gently to the ground. Unfortunately, she got her other leg around his shoulders and took him down with her. He originally landed on top, although she quickly reversed the positions.

"Tell you in a minute," she whispered, eyes on the bouncer who was reaching for his pepper spray, and then leapt back to her feet with surprisingly agility for somebody who had just been flung onto the asphalt. "Ladies and gentlemen!" she shouted out to the crowd, making sure to grin at everybody she made eye contact with. "May I present to you Nintendo's next espionage-visual-novel game!"

Oliver stood up next to her, favoring his right leg in a way that didn't make it immediately obvious that he was favoring it, and waved at the flummoxed crowd, forcing a smile and saying, "Available next May."

"Rated M, for mature," Eve said with a straight face, and then bowed sharply at the waist. Oliver just winced. Security rolled their eyes and dispersed, muttering things about 'fanboys.'

The brawlers raced through the crowds, nearly skidding to a halt in front of their psychiatrist, who was now rinsing his mouth out with a bottle of water.

"_What the cheesy ramen was _THAT?" Marth exploded the moment he was within earshot.

"You saw what it was," Oliver said. "Nintendo asked us to do a combat demo to create publicity for their new game."

"What game is this?" Link challenged.

"Young Dagger," Oliver's friend said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You're playing as an eighteen-year-old assassin named Valentine."

"But that's your…" Samus started, pointing a finger at Oliver, who smirked again.

"My middle name is Vincent, not Valentine. Guys, this is Kiersten O'Riley—my sparring partner from the karate club in college."

Eve—newly dubbed Kiersten—smiled childishly at them. "Sorry about all of the cloak and dagger," she apologized. "But there was a family emergency and I have to leave right away, so I tried to text Ollie—" Oliver moaned. "—to see if we could do it earlier, but we couldn't find one another, so…But it's all okay now."

"Ollie?" Ganondorf echoed disbelievingly.

Oliver scowled and hooked an arm over Kiersten's shoulder. "I'm just going to walk Riley back to the hotel so we can catch up a little. Don't forget that you guys have that question-and-answer panel at five tonight, okay?"

"Explain the blood," Marth commanded, pointing at Oliver's scraped face.

"Accident," Kiersten said quickly. "We were originally going to use blood packets and all of that cool stuff, but we had to improvise." She grinned again. "Ollie's taken hits from me before, it's all okay."

"I'm fine," the psychiatrist assured them as he tugged Kiersten away. "Don't forget about the Q&A."

"…So…" Link said slowly once the two had rounded the corner. "What do we do now? Does anybody honestly believe that story?"

"Nothing about that made sense," Samus grumbled. "Least of all Eve, or Kiersten, or whatever her name was. I mean, she came out of nowhere and…"

"I think it could have happened," Pit insisted. "It made sense to _me_."

"I remain utterly unconvinced," Marth and Ganondorf said in perfect unison, and then glared at one another.

"Something's going on," Zelda said softly. "I don't know what, but something bad is going to happen. It sounds crazy, but I can…feel it, almost."

_I can also sense something,_ Lucario agreed, one of its blue ears twitching. _A rift. Something breaking through. Something that is not supposed to be here._

"I think we all feel it," Roy said, rubbing his arms as a cold breeze wound its way through the courtyard. "Something's up."

All of the brawlers looked anxiously at one another, feeling like they were looking something obvious in the face and completely missing what they were supposed to be seeing.

**xXx**

**Yes, I did go on "what does the internet think" and learned that 96% of the internet is positive about Loki. This is compared to the 71.4% in favor of happiness. Loki is more popular than happiness. I'm also proud to say that I do actually own a "Team Edward Elric" T-shirt. And _Sir StarIII_ is the guy running around with the trollface. X_x We had a conversation about this…**

**Soo…funny story. That 10-character password for Ollie's safe was originally 4everyoun9, which nobody could have possibly guessed (I'm sorry) because I gave you no clues whatsoever. However, I have since decided that that was no fun at all and have changed it to something else (still 10-char), and (albeit lame) hints were scattered throughout this entire chapter. ;3 Enjoy. You'll get the answer sometime in the next few chappies, so have fun guessing. I really doubt anybody will get it, but at least there are some small clues here and there as opposed to none at all, so…(it's not Clstsafe03. Red herrings FTW!)**

**Other funny story: In the novel, Oliver doesn't have a real name. Jaden Gold and Oliver Stoelhart are both aliases. Est Benignus (his late girlfriend) is the reason he speaks Latin, and her name translates to 'Is kind.' More about that may be explained in the next chapter, depending on time/space constraints…**

**Right…so, despite the fact that this chapter was completely about Ollie, he won't be playing a huge role in the finale, which is scheduled to start on chapter 61 and I'm thinking will be about 5 chapters long and the whole thing is essentially one huge mind-game/fistfight of epicness with lots of collateral damage and things blowing up and stuffz…so…Riley won't be around much either. X_x I just felt like Oliver deserved a bit of spotlight before I shun him off to the shadows for the rest of the story. **

…**I have too much fun writing stuff like this. *shot***

**Because the next chapter features a Q&A session (GEEK-style), FEEL FREE TO DROP OFF ANY QUESTIONS you'd like the brawlers—any of them—to attempt to answer in the next chapter. ^_^ Keep it PG-13, but otherwise anything goes. Surprise me. **

**Please review!**


	60. Chapter 60: The Con pt 3

**Funny story: Me: *trying to explain to my CoD-addict buddy named Bunny what I do on the internet* **I write stuff about Samus, dude.

**Bunny: **Oh, Samus. I know who that is. He's the guy who looks like he's from Halo, right?

**Me: **… 'He?'

**Bunny: **Oh yeah, I play as him all the time in Brawl.

**Me: **…I'm sorry dude, I don't think we can be friends anymore.

**Bunny: **What? Why not?

**Me: **Samus is a GIRL, dude.

**Bunny: **Wha…Noooo. No way.

**Me: **Yes. She wears a zero-suit that leaves little to the imagination underneath her mecha.

**Bunny: **…Seriously?

**Me: **Yah.** I am so ashamed of my friends. OTL **

**Thanks to _Joshabi_; Yup, all of them. XD Your questions were hysterical. I loved them all. ~ Thanks to _Link's Little Brother_; …Wait…DOES Link have a last name? O.o ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; All is made clear in this chapter. ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; Wow…You're quite the dedicated reader. Thank you so much. ^_^ It would be epic to have them suddenly burst into Latin, wouldn't it? I'll have to file that away for the finale. ~ Thanks to _Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye_; I APPROVE OF YOUR USERNAME. ~ Thanks to _Hitomi Kogure_; Oh schnap…I actually wanna read it now. ~ Thanks to _Forgett-O Man_; …what? ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIII_; oooh…Yeah, be careful what you google, man. O.0 OH NOEZ. You have a doppelganger! ~ Thanks to_ OuranFruitsluvr_; Wow, that's the coolest thing I could've hoped to hear. Yay! ~ Thanks to _Katie_; I hope thou art entertained. ~ Thanks to _Dj-Nero_; Heya, welcome back. Fanboys are appreciated here. ^_^ ~ Thanks to_ STKB_; Uhm, I think Oliver and Riley both talked about the password at one point...I was soooo tempted to make RedHerring the password. XD That was glorious win. ~ Thanks to _HyperJuggernaut_; Nasty. ~ Thanks to _SakuraDreamerz_; Why thank you. ^_^ ~ Thanks to_ ttme123_; Nerdgasms FTW. I originally typed that in all-caps, but it looked really creepy. OTL (Elric FTFW) ~ Thanks to_ Omega Complex_; Yay! ^_^ Thank you so much. I'm always eternally impressed by people who sit down to read this entire thing in one day. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; Aw snap…Sorry about making you late to school. XD Quick question, what IS the Zweis Monde? Because I googled it and Google was not helpful. ;A; Also…paranoid rants are hysterical. XD I generally find your reviews entertaining. Never annoying. ~ Thanks to_ Kyanite Archer;_ Dude, Ninty's finding out that Oliver totally made up a fake game so he wouldn't get ejected from the con is pretty low on his concerns-list at the moment. XD ~ Thanks to_ Lost Triforce_; EPIC question. ~ Thanks to _FiriHon and USUK FTW_; It would've…I'm hoping to hit 70 before we're done though. ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; I was, unfortunately, not able to incorporate your little scene. X_x the brawlers were on a raised platform that made that hard to do. Very sorry. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; Oh yes, lots of Ollie in this chapter. ~ Thanks to_ Maplesong_; Psh. We all know Link's secretly a pimp. ~ Thanks to_ MessengerOfDreams_; Your comment about Marth/Ollie sort of freaked me out and sort of made me incredibly happy and I don't know why…XD ~ Thanks to_ seqka711_; Ooh, that would've been good, but it's not FMA related. Ollie's more of a Batman guy. ~ And thanks to _phases. equal .fanfics;_ …Huh. Not a bad comparison. I approve. **

**Okay, so I challenged you all to give me questions and I'm like 'there'll probably be some lame ones that I can disregard, so I'll just do the ones I like and I'll have seven or eight questions or something la-de-da-de-da…' But NOOOOOOOOO. The questions were all hysterical and there were about fifty-katrillion of them because almost everybody gave me more than one and I had a really hard time deciding and I eventually just tried to answer one of everybody's questions. X_x Very sorry. **

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN IT. I have completely lost track of what I talk about and don't talk about in this one…Oliver Stoelhart is 100% mine. (somebody said that Ollie/Marth would make a funny yaoi couple? XD I was extremely entertained by the thought—but they aren't. Please don't read anything into their emotional bonding conversation. X_x)**

**Please read, enjoy, and review. **

**Chapter 60: The Con: Part 3 **

Having come up with no plausible way to discover more about Oliver and his companion other than calling his hotel room (nobody answered), the brawlers had resignedly returned to the merchandise signing and then scattered across the con again, planning to meet up for the question-and-answer session later that evening.

They met after an early dinner and were quickly ushered into what appeared to be a conference room, complete with a large table like the one they had signed autographs on earlier that day on a raised platform. There they were introduced to a suited America man with a English/Japanese dictionary sticking out of his pocket who introduced himself as Phil and said that he was there to help answer any technical questions that the brawlers didn't know.

Come five o'clock, and the room was bursting with people, spilling out into the hallway. Phil nodded at Mario—designated leader of the questionnaire, and motioned for him to start.

"I hope you all know you're missing a really good Vocaloid concert out in the courtyard," Marth deadpanned into the microphone, drawing everybody's attention up towards the stage before the Italian plumber could get a word in. The audience tittered good-naturedly, and Mario looked over them anxiously.

"So…" he said at last. "I was just thinking that we'd get right into it. Erm…Any other ideas?" He glanced imploringly down the rest of the table, and Marth took up the slack, saying, "Nah, that sounds good. Raise your hands and we'll try and get to as many people as possible, okay?"

Every hand in the room immediately shot up.

"Okay then…" Marth tugged at his lip, obviously not expecting that huge of a response. "Uhm…You. Guy there with the Loki-shirt."

Said guy with the Loki-shirt grinned beseechingly up at the table. "This is question for Falco: what is the craziest thing that happened during your time in Super Smash Bros that you wish you were a part of?"

Falco blinked, startled to have been the first one to have a query. "That I _wish _I were a part of?" he clarified. "Ah jeez…I really wish I'd been involved in the Dairy Queen Incident, because that is shrouded in mystery and I honestly have no idea why everybody's been making such a big fuss about it."

"Um, yeah, our psychiatrist will kill us if we talk about that here," Link said quickly, drowning out the cries for explanation. "Sorry. We might compromise our agents in the field. Next? You there, with the pen."

A girl with a trollface badge on her 'I-heart-fanfiction' shirt grinned. "Do you guys play video games outside Nintendo or your own series? If so, what kinds?"

"We aren't allowed to own gaming systems that aren't Nintendo," Marth admitted. "But I think we all sort of mess around with stuff, if we get bored. I play Zelda games just to tick Link off—"

"I DON'T LIKE THEM," Link cried, burying his face in his hands.

"—And I used to play the Wii version of Call of Duty, which isn't really Nintendo, so…"

"Pit and I play DS games," Quincy inserted. "But most of the guys here are like Link and don't like to play their own video games: they think it's weird."

"Ganondorf plays Legend of Zelda," Sheik said quickly.

"_Next,_" Ganondorf growled. "You. Mortal combat guy."

"This is for Captain Falcon," said the ninja Ganondorf was pointing at. "How do you produce flames from your fists?"

The Captain jazz-handed and said with a completely straight face, "Magic. Seriously though, there are little spark igniters in my gloves. It's not really me. Sorry…Santa isn't real either."

"Hey, jumping back to the video game thing," somebody shouted out. "Do any of you guys read Homestuck?"

"Nope, sorry," Sheik replied.

"I met a Homestuck cosplayer yesterday though," Marth offered up as a sort of compromise.

A girl waved her arm up and down until Roy called on her. "Question for Link."

"Go for it, sweetheart," Link drawled, looking up at the ceiling.

"Can you confirm the rumors that you have a hot pink triforce tattooed on your rear as a result of Brawl Mansion hijinks?"

There was a ghastly silence.

"I don't have any tattoos…anywhere," Link said slowly, shooting daggers at Ike and Roy, who were nearly falling off their chairs with the effort of not bursting into laughter. "But if I were to get one, it would not be pink."

"He'd get a pygmy puff across his chest," Pit said quickly, causing a number of Harry Potter fans in the back of the room to woot. "You two can go next." He pointed at two Asian-looking girls who seemed as if they were sisters.

The younger of the two was bouncing up and down in a spazzy sort of way and pointed a finger at the pokemon trainer. "What's your real name? Ash or Red? Or some random name like Trevor?"

He grinned, tipping his hat to them. "My name's actually Quincy." Various gasps of surprise. "I'm not related to Ash at all—I'm from Hoenn."

"While I'm here," the girl said again. "Marth, are you—"

"_No._"

"Oh, good. Thanks for clearing that one up."

"Not a problem. You there?"

He pointed at a girl with blue skin and a pink wig who held fisted hands up to her face as she asked quietly, "Can Luigi do _the pose?_"

"The…what?" Luigi blinked.

"_The pose_," the girl whispered reverently. "From Paper Mario."

"Erm."

"Just do it and get it over with." Mario elbowed his brother, and with a sigh, Luigi stood up and resignedly spread his arms out to form an L-shape. He sunk back into his seat as the girl and several others squealed 'IT'S THE GREEN THUNDER' in unison. "Next."

"Question for Zelda: do you ever feel like you needed to fight as the hero along with Link?"

Zelda placed her elbows on the table and shrugged. "Not really," she said coyly. "I enjoy the role I play. With that said, it is fun to come here and not have to wait for somebody to come along to save me. So I enjoy the change, but I don't feel like it's necessary. Link's perfectly capable by himself. How about you there?"

"How does it feel to get eaten by Kirby?"

"Imagine the grossest, slimiest se—" Marth started descriptively, only to have his microphone clamped over by Ike before he could finish.

"It's just gross," Roy shuddered. "No offense to the Kirbster." Kirby smiled to show that he wasn't offended.

"What do you do in your spare time, Ganondorf?"

"Lock myself in my room and cry over all of the lost opportunities to reform into a decent human being," Ganondorf sighed patronizingly. "And if I'm feeling especially outgoing, I'll occasionally read one of Snake's espionage novels or go to the gym."

"Or play Legend of Zelda," Sheik cackled, and was finally smacked by Ganondorf for her troubles.

"Right, you there," Marth said, pointing to another guy. "I approve of your shirt, by the way."

The kid grinned, causing Samus to roll her eyes. The shirt just said 'Zero-suit' and had a smiley face underneath it. "For the Ice Climbers: how often do people see you and make 'Hammer Time' jokes?"

"That hasn't ever actually happened yet," Nana said, and then caught the mischievous look on the teenager's faces. "But it's going to happen a lot in the near future."

"For all of you: if you could have one talent from another character in Brawl, what would it be?"

"I personally want Samus' whip," Marth blurted first. "That thing's pretty neat."

"I…" Link tried to start, but degraded into giggles and shot a look at Marth, who crossed his arms and gave him a _'you-must-be-thinking-something-perverted'_ glare and kept a straight face. "I'm sorry," the Hylian wheezed after a minute. "I just can't top that."

"While I'm here, I'd also like Quincy's hat," Marth said again. "I don't think any of you realize how much he wears that thing. I'm not even sure he has hair underneath there—oh hey look, these chairs can spin."

There followed an incredibly childish moment where all of the brawlers simultaneously glanced down at their chairs and spun themselves in a circle, completely ruining any seriousness that the conference hadn't lost yet.

"Right—that's not going to be all over the internet in the morning…" Sheik said sarcastically. "You next. The one who looks like a child-version of Link."

"For Roy: do you like duckies?"

"I am impartial to ducks," Roy said plainly. "I like blue-footed boobies, though: we don't have those back home."

Marth tumbled off his chair he was laughing so hard.

"For Olimar: does that spacesuit ever get stuffy?"

Olimar shrugged noncommittally.

"Remember the time you got sick in that thing?" Captain Falcon asked him. Olimar shuddered.

"HEY GANONDORK!" shouted somebody in the crowd dressed up as the Zweis Monde. Ganondorf didn't reply, and became immensely fascinated with the condensation on the side of his water glass. "Next."

"Right," Marth laughed, climbing back onto his seat and taking a drink of water. "You, kid with the hat." He pointed a finger at a teenager dressed almost entirely in brown, complete with a top hat.

"I was just wondering if you could tell me what's scheduled for the next Super Smash Bros game. Apparently there's going to be one, but will you guys still be here? On Earth, I mean. Because don't some of you have to go home?"

"Erm…" the Altean pulled a face. "I'm actually going to delegate that one to our resident Nintendo guy, because I don't have a clue how that's all going to shake out. Phil?"

Phil straightened a little and leaned forward for the microphone, putting both elbows onto the table. "Well, I can confirm that there are plans for a Super Smash Bros four, but I'm not really allowed to say more than that. It's still highly conceptual." He shrugged away the chorus of 'boos' that followed that statement. "But as for the warps and the situation of these guys…" Phil threw out an arm to encompass the entirety of the table. "Those who are able stay will be given the option of remaining here. They are an excellent resource."

"Oh, gee, thanks," Link scoffed.

"I meant that in the most loving of ways," Phil joked, causing the Hylian to crack a smile. Unnoticed by everybody else, Marth and Ike shared a look, and then quickly looked away, Ike glancing sideways at Sheik when she was otherwise occupied and wouldn't notice, Marth staring quietly down into his lap, previous enjoyment forgotten.

"I think we have time for a few more questions," Mario said, checking the clock hanging from the wall. "Who next?"

**xXx**

It was around one in the morning that night (or early the next morning) when Marth found himself hovering awkwardly in front of Oliver's door. He had been wandering the hotel hallways for the past forty minutes, after spending two hours on the roof trying to trick himself into feeling sleepy. And now he found himself here, and he wasn't quite sure why.

He had just decided to try and sneak back into his own room without waking up any of the others when the door was opened in front of his face and Oliver—wearing grey cotton pants and a crumpled T-shirt with a stormtrooper saying "I had friends on that Death Star" stenciled across the front—stepped out, holding an ice compress to his face.

Both of them jumped. "Jeez, Marth," the psychiatrist laughed. "I didn't expect to see you there."

"Who's that, Jaden?" a female voice called from inside the room, and Oliver stuck his head back inside to say that it was one of his kids and that he would be out for awhile. She could apparently show herself out.

"I thought you said Eve had to leave right away," Marth said dully, staring down at the carpet as Oliver closed the door and started to walk down the hallway, taking a turn that led to a different hallway. "Why does she call you that?"

"Jaden?" Oliver clarified. "It's my username on an online forum we both are on toge—"

"Come on, man."

With a sigh, Oliver passed the lukewarm compress off to Marth and glanced at his reflection in a hanging mirror on the hallway wall. The punch earlier that afternoon had blossomed to a lovely purple flower, covering about half of the psychiatrist's face. "You know, you and I aren't that different when it comes to a skill set." Marth blinked at the change of subject. "Where we are extremely different is in the way we implement those skills."

"…So," Marth grappled. "…What you do is illegal?"

"What I _used_ to do was not exactly the sort of thing I like to advertise," Oliver admitted a little sheepishly to his reflection, slipping his hands into his pockets. "And the sort of thing that could get you in a lot of trouble if I told you about it. So…to use a cliché, I could tell you why she calls me Jaden, but then I'd have to kill you."

"And…Eve, or Riley…"

"Her real name is Kiersten O'Riley," Oliver shrugged, resuming his stroll down the hallway.

"She used to do this illegal job with you?" Marth asked, trailing a few steps behind him.

"She still does it," Oliver chuckled good-naturedly. "Although we never officially worked together. But I should give her more credit, she's not that bad."

"She punched you in the face," Marth felt the need to point out. Oliver shrugged again. The Altean scowled and glared at the psychiatrist's back accusatorily. "Is Oliver Stoelhart even your real name?"

"It is at the moment. It's as real as any other has ever been."

"How many do you have?"

"Several." Oliver cocked his head sideways without turning around. "Does this scare you? Or does it make sense?" Marth looked up at him, and Stoelhart scratched the back of his head resignedly.

"So…you were, like…an assassin?" Marth said slowly. "Or…government agent…maybe?"

"Along those lines." Oliver nodded. "But I'm not anymore."

"What are you now?" Marth asked quietly. "A babysitter? A card up somebody's sleeve? It does make sense, you know, now that I think about it. Of course they wouldn't assign an average person to take care of people like us. You'd need somebody who'd know what to do if things ever…got out of hand or something."

"I'm just a psychiatrist now," Oliver said firmly. "I quit the program when my fiancé was killed. I dropped off the face of the earth, as far as anybody knew. That's why Riley was ticked—she thought I'd died. But I went to college; worked in an office with a guy named Steven for a few months, then got the job here. No hidden agendas, no targets, no nothing, although a few people have asked me if I could quietly off Ganondorf."

"The world would indeed be much nicer," Marth agreed.

"Self-restraint is a good thing. Not to mention he's a psychiatrist's field day," Oliver grinned. They had arrived at an ice machine, and Oliver dug a handful of quarters out of his pocket to feed into the slot, snatching the ice compress from Marth and dumping out the warm slush into the grate at the bottom of the machine. "Speaking of…why are you still up and about? I would've thought you'd be tired."

"I couldn't sleep," Marth said evasively, shifting his weight from one leg to the other as Oliver re-filled his compress and once again pressed it to the mass of bruised skin on his face.

"Want to tell me why?"

"Sure, like I'd tell you."

"You _were _hanging out outside my bedroom," Oliver pointed out with a smug grin, immediately followed by a wince. "Prevailing logic plus your body language says that you want to talk about it. I'm guessing that it's not the sort of thing you can talk to your friends about, hence me."

"I'm not about to tell a _government assassin_—"

Oliver let the compress thunk onto the floor and grabbed the prince by the shoulders, propelling him up against the wall. "Look," he said. "It's one thing if you don't want to talk to me about it because you hate me. I am totally fine with that. It's okay if you don't want to tell me because you'd prefer to talk to somebody who isn't paid to listen. But it's not alright to keep something serious to yourself because you think I couldn't help you or because you think that I'm not committed to this job. I am. Riley thinks I care too much."

"Oh come on. You've always had a thing against me." Marth snapped, wrenching out of Oliver's grip and facing off against him in the hallway. "How exactly was ending me off to an amusement park you knew I'd be freaked out by was you showing me that you care actually for my well-being?"

"I was trying to teach you that actions have consequences, and trying to make you take a bit more responsible for yourself. You might've gotten used to being a normal teenager here, but you'll have to go back and be king someday, and God help Altea if you're as reckless with them as you are with yourself."

Marth snarled out a curse word and turned on his heel, crushing his head in-between his hands.

Oliver backtracked, realizing that he'd accidentally hit the nail on the head. "This has something to do with that, doesn't it?" he asked softly. "Is something going on—_oh._" His hand came up to cover his mouth as he finally realized what it was.

"Yep." Marth scuffed his foot against the trim on the floor and clasped his hands behind his back. "You know about it, don't you? You've done the research. You probably know the history better than I do."

"There's going to be a rebellion in Grust," Oliver murmured, reciting what he had been told. "And the sixteen-year-old king of Altea will be called by his trusted friend General Hardin to help stifle it."

"They got the dates wrong," Marth said plainly. "It was supposed to happen a few months ago, but I haven't heard anything. It could happen any day now. I'll have to go home. Somebody at the Q&A asked who all's going to be able to stay for Super Smash Bros four, and…" He pulled a face. "I don't know. I was just thinking that a lot of us won't be able to stick around. I might have to leave tomorrow. Ike's going to have to leave in the near future for Radiant Dawn—he knows that the Black Knight isn't dead. It's been bugging him ever since he found out, not that you'd know about it unless he told you. Pit's going to have to go stop Medusa, because Uprising hadn't happened yet as of when he'd left, but judging by guesstimated ages, it'll happen pretty soon for him. I mean, even Quincy's got a life back home, friends he probably hasn't seen in two years. Out of all of us, he's probably got the best shot at a semi-normal existence. He's nothing special; he's not a hero or a king or anything…" His voice cracked, and he turned away again, hiding his face.

"You don't want to go home," Oliver whispered.

Marth laughed harshly. "Nope," he said shakily. "Aren't I awful? Aren't we all terrible? Nobody thinks about it if they can help it. Nobody dwells on it. Nobody wants the responsibility anymore. I mean, even this is ridiculous." He gestured at Oliver, although the psychiatrist still couldn't see his face. "I'm supposed to be the sort of person who can deal with _anything_—if I were home, I'd be a king. I wouldn't be…a kid. I wouldn't be able to be immature. I hate it."

"You hate what?"

"This. Me. Everything. I wish I had never come here, or I wish I never had to leave. But staying here, and knowing that none of it could ever possibly be permanent, that I won't be able to spend the rest of my life fighting with Link and Ike and Roy and getting closer to Samus like I wish I could, _that_ sucks. That is unbelievably hard." Oliver was contemplating that when Marth suddenly whirled around and screamed, "_WHY COULDN'T I BE NORMAL?_"

Oliver couldn't think of what to say. Situations like this were difficult, because there was obviously something that Marth wanted him to say, and if he said the wrong thing, the blowout would only get worse. But what he thought the boy wanted him to say was ridiculous. _'You are normal'_? He wasn't an idiot.

"Why couldn't I be born here, on Earth, and just be a normal kid, with normal friends?" Marth continued vehemently. "Why do I have to be brought here as…as an immigrant, a visitor, and be shown how incredible kids have it here—how incredible it _is_ here—and then be forced by some duty that I don't even want anymore to _leave?_"

"Because…you're not normal," Oliver said slowly, testing the waters.

"Why do I _want_ to be?"

"You think you shouldn't want this? You'd have to be stupid not to want to live like this forever."

"I _can't_ want this. I'll never get it."

Oliver sank down to sit alongside the wall and motioned for Marth to sit down next to him. "I know you won't believe me when I say this, but what you're dealing with is pretty normal." Marth scoffed as he slid down to the floor, and Oliver shushed him impatiently. "You're scared of change. That's normal. It's a normal adolescent feeling. It's not weird, or abnormal, or even wrong."

Marth looked down at the carpet.

"It's the uncertainty of it all that's bugging you, isn't it? The fact that someday soon, you'll start having to worry about problems bigger than what you're used to. Every teenager freaks out over that. Every teenager wishes he could stay young and free forever. You're actually a step ahead of everybody else because you realize that you can't. That doesn't mean you have to be happy about it. But you know it's coming, right?"

"Any day now," Marth sighed resignedly.

"Everybody has to grow up, Marth," Oliver said quietly. "You just have to do it a bit faster than most. There's nothing wrong with you. It's not wrong to be scared. It's not wrong to not understand why it's happening, or wish that it could have happened differently."

The Altean sniffed a little and quickly looked away.

"But I'm not worried about you," Oliver said kindly, clapping a hand on Marth's knee. "You've managed fine up until this point, I'm sure you'll be okay."

"It's going to suck though," Marth grumbled, his voice thick. "Going back, I mean. I hate wars. I hate the court sessions and the uncomfortable clothes and the lack of hot water and the lack of internet and…" He cracked a sarcastic smile. "I mean…I'm going to go from looking up Legend of Zelda cheats on Google to actually swinging the sword myself. I'm going to kill people, and it won't be a game anymore. I'm going to have to kill lots of people."

"Probably," Oliver agreed. "And it probably is going to suck. It'll be traumatic, and you're going to have to square with the nature of your actions someday, just like I did. But I know you, and I know you value life, so you aren't going to kill anybody unless there is no other alternative. You will be helping your kingdom. I'm not trying to say that it'll be an easy transition. It never is. It wasn't an easy transition coming here either, was it?"

Marth looked up, startled. "What?"

"My records say that you had a hard time transitioning originally," Oliver teased. "That computers and electronic devices didn't respond to you and you couldn't even figure out how to make yourself food or use basic devices. Look at you now—you're fully integrated. You're even tech-savvy. Don't you think that transition was hard?"

"Well…yeah. But I had so much fun here…It's different."

"Don't you think you'll find ways to have fun back home?" Oliver challenged. "You weren't miserable there, were you? You have friends back home: trusted people who probably miss you dearly and will love hanging out with you again."

"But I'm so different from the way I was then."

"They probably are too. Won't that be an adventure, getting to know each other all over again?" Oliver smiled down at the kid, who was playing with a loose seam on his pants and appeared lost in thought. "Not to mention you'll still have the memories of this place to keep you company. Someday, you'll look back on this as a happy period. A place of self-development. Maybe this will be a turning point in your life, I don't know. Nobody knows—that's what makes it interesting. And no matter how much you wish that the time you spent here had gone on forever, you'll eventually move on. Someday, you'll be glad you left."

The Altean still didn't look up.

"And it's not as if you'll never see anybody again," Oliver chided. "Nintendo decided to keep the warps open, didn't they? You were still able to see Roy even after he'd 'left.' So you'll still be able to see your friends. You'll keep in touch. Who knows, maybe you'll meet some new ones. Nintendo's working on establishing a warp between the Skyward Sword world and here, so maybe you'll meet a new Link someday."

"Skyworld-Link is way too quiet," Marth said immediately, a spark of humor returning to him.

"Your Link was pretty quiet too when he first came, if you recall." Oliver stood up and patted the top of Marth's head with the hand that wasn't holding the ice-pack. "You'll do fine, kid. You're capable, you're strong, you're smart, and you know what you're doing. You don't need to worry so much." He started to walk back up the hallway, leaving the boy still sitting up against the wall, hair falling over his face.

"For whatever it's worth, Marth, I'm proud of you. You took everything I threw at you and threw it right back."

"Thanks, I think," Marth said as he stood up, and cleared his throat. When he spoke again, it was with his customary half-smile and a steady voice. "You are such a lousy psychiatrist though. You should've stuck with killing people."

Oliver grinned. "Times were a'changing, kiddo. It was time to move on." His cell-phone trilled from the pocket of his pajama pants, and he fished it out and flipped it open, shuffling the compress to his other hand so he could hold the phone to his ear. "Dr. Oliver Stoelhart, who is this?"

"You keep your phone in your _pajamas?_" Marth couldn't help laughing. Oliver just scowled at him and jerked a thumb over his shoulder, back down the hallway. Marth slipped past him, rolling his eyes. Apparently baring his soul hadn't changed their relationship.

"Liam, it's two in the morning. What the heck are you doing?" Oliver snapped into the phone, causing Marth to pause and listen. "I thought I gave you guys specific instructions not to call me unless the stadium was on fire…Oh. Well, did you call 911 yet? …Why didn't you?—Well _why not?_"

"Sir?" Marth asked, but Oliver tossed the compress at him and began pacing, running his now free hand through his hair, green-gold eyes wide.

"Is everybo—Liam, you have to stay calm, okay? Okay? It's fine. You're okay, right?"

"Sir, what's going on?"

"Is everybody accounted for? …Ah. Yeah yeah, I know. Yes, I knew about it….It doesn't matter who told me, she's not important. They weren't supposed to activate it until after we got back, so I'd counted on…Yes, I know." His eyebrows came together, and he clamped his other hand over his ear to drown out Marth's hissed questions. "Liam, what's that noise in the background?"

"Agh, forget it," Marth grumbled sarcastically, resisting the urge to drop kick the ice-compress into the psychiatrist's face. "It's only our stadium. Why should you tell me anything?"

"Liam?" Oliver asked into the phone. "Liam. Liam! Liam, come on…" He pulled the phone from his ear to check that he hadn't accidentally hung up, and then stiffened as a tinny voice, words indistinguishable, yet undoubtedly _not_ belonging to the blonde staffer, floated out. He slammed the phone back to his ear. "Who is this? …My name is Gavin Brooks. Who are you?"

"Do you often answer that way when you pick up the phone?" Marth asked snarkily. Oliver made a foreign hand gesture in his direction, and then snarled into the phone, "Who _is_ this? …You don't know who you're dealing with—who is this? …No, I don't—I told you my name already. Why would I lie?"

"Is this for real?" Marth intoned, the smile disappearing from his face.

"Don't you dare," Oliver said to the phone. "You have no idea the seriousness of what you just brought down on yourself. There is no way you can take all of us on, and we _will_ come. You'd better run back to whatever hole you crawled out o—Well, we'll just have to see if we can help you with that." He snapped the phone shut, choking off whatever the person on the other line was saying.

"Stoelhart, what the fudge—?"

"Wake everybody up," Oliver commanded, walking quickly down the hallway, swollen face forgotten. "Wake everybody up and tell them to get dressed and ready to meet me in the parking lot in ten minutes."

"Would it kill you to tell me what's going on?" Marth snapped, snagging Oliver by the wrist and tugging him around. "Because, unlike Pit, I still don't jump when you say jump, so you'd better give me a better reason than 'I told you so.'"

"The stadium is on fire," was all Oliver said.

"How are we supposed to help put out a fire?" Marth demanded. "We're not firefighters."

"You're heroes, and your home is about to be swarmed."

"By what?"

"_Everything._ Nintendo just opened the doors to every bad thing in every possible dimension there is. Trust me; every minute you waste here is another chance the whole thing's going to fall out of the sky before we can get there. Wake everybody up. _That means _NOW,_ Marth!_"

The last bit was bellowed out so suddenly that Marth blinked, and then took a step backwards, then another: faster. In another second he was sprinting off down the hallway, smashing against the doors and flicking on light switches.

Oliver walked back into his empty room to pack up everything essential, throwing a pair of sweatpants on over his pajamas and shoving everything else into a duffle bag to be thrown over his shoulder. He made for the parking lot just as the first of the brawlers started to complain, only to have Marth bark something out back at them about 'emergencies.'

As the psychiatrist strode out into the night, he pulled out his cellphone and fired of a message to Riley: _'Thanks for the heads-up, but Nintendo tried to bring him through 2NITE, not next week. Everything's completely blown. _

_…But thanks for trying.'_

**xXx**

**So…yup. Oliver used to 'keel' people. Now you know. Also, somebody in the stadium left the stove on. ::troll:: Who is this mysterious person who took the hysterical Liam off of the phone? Crazy conspiracy theories are always welcome. XD They make me laugh. **

**Ever since I introduced the Marth-Oliver relationship arc I wanted to resolve it this way. Despite his sarcasm and sadistic tendencies, Oliver is pretty good at his job and takes the entire thing more seriously that he usually lets on. The Marth-emotional-blowout thing has been a looong time coming, actually. X_x I can't help it. I love him when he's angsty. Plus, he and Ike seem like the only two who would really dwell on that (Link might too, but he's not in the same situation), and Ike doesn't talk, so it had to be Marth. Not to mention that I've been keeping the poor guy on a pretty tight leash dialogue-wise due to his annoying habit of hijacking the conversation, so I think he was happy to get to go on a several-paragraph-long rant. XD It was also a glorious metaphor for the teenage experience and the fear that comes from having to actually grow up into an adult and all of that fancy stuff. :3 Like a sir. **

**Thank you all for the amazing support with Oliver. ^_^ He'll still be around in the finale, but he's back to his "general coordinator in the background" role as opposed to his recent "50%-antagonist-45%-emotional-counselor-5%-father-figure" role that he's been on as of late. BTW Happy Father's Day. **

**For anybody who wants to read more of my angsty-Marth pieces, check out _"Disappointed"_ or the new-ish one: _"Shatter." _b_ _d Why yes, I am self-promoting. **

**You might have to wait until July for the next update…I'm going to be on vacation. We'll see how things go. OTL Very sorry. On the other hand, the finale will be epic. Trust me. I just lit the stadium on fire. **

**ONTO THE FINALE. Please review. **


	61. Chapter 61: Finale pt 1

**Well…here it is. July. =_= The. Final. Month. Of. The. Game. Are you ready?**

**Thanks to _Sir StarIII_; d'aw…your "review" still made me all happy and fuzzy. XD But to answer the question, no, I don't think there will be. There will probably be oneshots, but nothing on this scale. ~ Thanks to _Lost Triforce_; your censored something made it. XD You are the second person to say that. ~ Thanks to _Caxe_; Erm…I never got into Kingdom Hearts. *waits to be shot* ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; Oh heck yeah, sistah! ~ Thanks to _DemonColours_; PLOT TWIST! ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee;_ XD Yes. Mission accomplished. ~ Thanks to _phases . _; Erm…Not answeriiiiiiiiiiiiing… ~ Thanks to _Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye_; You know it makes me happy every time I write your username? XD ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; I do love Marth angst. I only gave descriptions in the Q&A to people I actually know or people who included an OC to ask their question for them. XD Nothing personal. ~ Thanks to _Cardcaptornicole_; that it is. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; Ah, thanks for explaining it. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Brightcrest_; N'aww…Well, I'm glad you're here now and enjoying yourself. ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Gosh darnit Nintendo. ~ Thanks to _ttme123_; XD Nah, it was never an actual arc, but I've been building their relationship for, like…almost thirty chapters now. XD ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; That GORGEOUS picture is my desktop wallpaper now. b^^d And I'll help with the contest stuff as soon as this is posted, which by the time you're reading it will be so….Yeah. Mouse is on the job! ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; My Link is from Twilight Princess, and I'm strategically ignoring the fact that the Link from Melee really should have been from Ocarina of Time. We'll just pretend that he's the same dude. =_= ~ Thanks to _OuranFruitslurv_; n'aww…thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; Ooh, thank you. This will be useful. ~ Thanks to _CEObrainz;_ EXACTLY! No, not really. But whatever. Excellent guess. ~ Thanks to _neuron6_; I'm glad you found it again. :) ~ Thanks to _ShadowRock21_; Dang it, she should have said it. You'll find out about the password soon enough. ;D ~ Thanks to _Guest_; Wow, thank so much. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Draconis Kitten Sweetie_; DEAR. GOD. You deserve an epic high-five for single-handedly reviewing 22 chapters in two days. I thought I was the only one who wrote a review for every chapter. Thanks for making me not feel so alone. XD ~ Thanks to another _Guest_; I think you misread it. It was supposed to be a SchwarzWeiss…I don't know either. =_= ~ Thanks to _Reality Is Fantasy_; Mission accomplished! ~ And a final thanks to _Therewillbebrawl_; Favorite song in the avengers? I don't know any specific songs in that movie…but I have Loki feels out the roof, so…**

**Apologies to the two Guests. =_= From here on out, thanks to fanfiction, I will be unable to tell anonymous reviewers apart. If you've reviewed as an anon before, please tell me who you are in the review, otherwise I have no idea. Also, when I started out I had about three reviews per chapter. Lately I've had between a page and two pages. THIS one I had FOUR pages and I have _Draconis Kitten Sweeti_e to thank for that. XD That was just fun.**

**Also, the "Trust me, I just lit the stadium on fire" quote is now my avatar thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_, who is awesome incarnate. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own SSBB/M or anything pertaining to Nintendo. I also don't own Batman. I do own Oliver Stoelhart, who managed to go on a multi-paragraph long rant despite me saying that he wasn't going to be around anymore. Gosh darnit. X_x I swear, I've given up trying to control how much these guys talk. **

**This is a massive chapter in terms of content. I am going all out. Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 61: Finale: Part 1**

"What are we doing here?" Sheik grumbled, hopping with one foot as she struggled to yank on her other shoe. She staggered into Zelda, who was rubbing her hands together and wishing that she had brought along a heavier sweatshirt. It was warm enough during the day that she'd figured she wouldn't need one, but at two in the morning it was significantly cooler.

"That's quite the shiner," Snake said to Oliver, nodding towards the psychiatrist's face.

"Thank you," said the psychiatrist who, oddly enough, looked sort of proud.

"Why are we here?" Roy complained loudly, stretching his arms up to over his head and letting the sleeves of his over-large shirt fall down to his elbows.

"There's been some sort of explosion back at the stadium," Oliver said coolly, already standing up against the side of the coach bus, a dark shadow against the star-spotted sky. "We're going back to try and help."

"I thought you said it was on fire," Marth said confusedly.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure," Oliver confessed. "It sounded like things were blowing up…"

"What do you mean it sounded like things were blowing up?" Link demanded.

"Phone call." Oliver made the 'call-me' gesture, but it was lost in the dark. "Liam called—it doesn't really matter. We just need to get moving."

"Why is this so urgent?" Sheik asked, standing up from where she had been fumbling with her shoelaces. "We're a day's drive away. Shouldn't they have the fire out by then? I mean, yeah, crud that there was a fire and everything, but it's not that huge of a deal, is it?"

Oliver walked over to the door and started fiddling with something on the latch. "I'll explain this in greater detail on the way there, but this has to do with the nature of the warps."

"What about them?"

"Well, how do you think they got where they are? A lot of your dimensions aren't technologically advanced enough to even attempt a dimension-portal device, so how do we plant them?"

"You find a wormhole?" Samus suggested dryly.

"Or, if we've got the tech, we could try and make a wormhole of our own…?" Captain Falcon said.

"Close enough. I don't understand exactly how it works myself. Imagine that the other dimensions exist in a sort of 3D curtain around us. If you can find a way to rip the curtain, and you can get things back and forth. We've figured out a way to create a rip, and then we have a way of sort of…sewing it back up so that instead of a rip, there's a specific tunnel leading to a specific time and place. The issue is that we can't do both operations right away, so there's a point where the rip isn't restrained at all—it's just there. And while it's open, anything with enough power to survive the jump can come through."

"I don't like where this is going," Ike said nervously.

"How much power would one need?" Samus asked.

"Massive amounts. Nobody knows how much."

"Could I do it?" Ganondorf asked, sounding legitimately curious.

"I don't know. Like I said, it's never happened before. Nobody on Earth can do it."

"Wait," Zelda said. "Why can't anybody on Earth do it?"

The psychiatrist leaned back from the door and ran a hand through his hair, spiking his bangs in the front. "I had it explained to me like this: imagine you're looking down at a tree. All of the branches are splitting off from a central point, the trunk. In this case, the trunk is like earth—our dimension. It is the root of all other worlds. That's why all of your magical powers transferred over here."

"Is that why we couldn't use a potion on Marth and Ike when they got shot?" Link asked, trying to put it together. "And why the cleric was able to heal you, even though you aren't from Fire Emblem?"

"Right," Oliver nodded, and turned back to continue fiddling with the bus door. "And, in this case, all of the Fire Emblem games would have originated from the same branch, so to speak, which is why a healer from Roy's dimension was able to heal the other two. In this case, Link's dimension was on a completely different branch than Marth's and Ike's, which is why his magic wouldn't work on them. I'm from Earth, the central dimension, so everything will work on me. It's like the AB blood type—the universal recipient. But the point is, most of the energy flows one direction, not both. The pull on the other dimensions to earth is going to be exponentially greater than the pull on us to them."

"Sounds like you do have a pretty good idea of how it works after all," Snake said dryly. There was a pop, and Oliver swung the door of the bus open, tucking something shiny that was definitely not the key back into his pocket.

"I get the gist," he said a little smugly. "But the point is that that's how we got the warps to where all of you were, and we used the same technique to create the rip for everybody here. It's the same technique Nintendo's always been using."

"So what's the problem now?"

"Somebody's broken through."

"…Somebody good?" Roy asked nervously, all but jumping up and down as he tried to keep himself warm.

"Decidedly not, judging from the sound of explosions. Tonight Nintendo created a rip leading to the Skyward Sword era of Hyrule, which, going along with the analogy, would be a twig on the Legend of Zelda branch…"

"Could you please stop trying to act smart and just get to the point?" Sheik moaned. "Because it's two in the morning and this is hurting my brain."

"Right, sorry," Oliver held his hands up defensively. "Bottom line: Nintendo was trying to build a warp leading to the Skyward Sword era so that they could get to Link, but somebody else got through instead."

"Are they trying to copy me?" the current Link yelped disbelievingly. Marth was about to say something snippy back when it suddenly clicked for him, and he reeled backwards with a cry of, "Omigosh!"

"What?" Link whirled around.

"It's Ghirahim, isn't it?" Marth said breathlessly, looking over Link's shoulder to Oliver for confirmation. "Ghirahim is the one who broke through the rift."

"Who what now?" Sheik asked, pretending to clear out her ear as if she had misheard.

"So now you understand the problem," Oliver sighed. "Because I don't know. I have no idea what the guy sounds like, and I don't know enough about the era to know whether or not there's another guy who could've broken through."

"Not really," Marth muttered. "He's about as bad as you can get. He was sort of a master sorcerer and basically the primary antagonist of the whole storyline. If somebody bad slipped through, it would be him."

"This is good," Oliver nodded.

"Excuse me, how is this good?" Sheik exclaimed, rubbing her shoulders as she shivered.

Oliver gave her an exasperated look. "We've got somebody who at least sort of knows what we're dealing with."

Marth tried not to look smug.

The psychiatrist started pacing back and forth. "We've got a starting place now. This is good." He paused, and gestured at the blue hedgehog. "Sonic, I need you to run back to the stadium. You're faster than the bus, and we're going to need reconnaissance. We won't be able to communicate right away, so you're not to do anything dangerous once you get there. Just look around and see if you can figure out more details about what we're dealing with. Any intel on Ghirahim's"—unlike many, Oliver pronounced the name perfectly on the first try—"abilities or the safety of the staffers would be amazing, but like I said: don't do anything risky yet. Meanwhile, you two…" Oliver rounded to point at Marth and Snake, who blinked in unison. "Are going to take my car…" He tossed the keys to Snake. "And drive as fast as you can, following Sonic."

"Wait, why us?" Marth blurted. "And why aren't we all riding the bus? What about the cops?"

"My car has a special license plate that gives it all of the rights of a police car—don't ask," Oliver said quickly, upon catching the way Marth's eyes lit up. "Snake is going because he's an espionage expert, and you're going because you're the only one who actually has any practical knowledge about Ghirahim."

"And they said playing video games was bad for you," Marth quipped. Roy looked insanely jealous.

"Sir," Link and Ganondorf spoke up in unison, Ganondorf glaring at the Hylian, who stuck his tongue out and continued. "Sir, I don't think you realize just how much can change in-between Nintendo discovering a new…branch…on your tree of life or whatever you call it and when they create a video game adaption of it. Just because Marth's played Skyward Sword doesn't give him any practical advantage at all."

Marth glared at Link. "Fighting styles and storylines may be different, but the personalities are the same. Fighting styles are essentially the same. It's just your silly mini-quests that are more glorified in real life."

"Look, we'll take the chance that some stuff is going to be a little different. Even a little bit is better than nothing." Oliver passed Marth his phone. "I'm going to pick up a tracfone or something before the rest of us leave. I want you to check in with me frequently—you'll have the number of my new phone once I call you. You're there as backup for Sonic. Once the three of you have all met up, I want you to figure out a plan to try and get inside the complex. First priority it to make sure the staffers are all safe. But most importantly, check everything over with me before you do anything. Do you understand all that?"

"Loud and clear, sir."

"Then get moving." Oliver clapped his hands briskly as Sonic disappeared in a blue blur and Marth and Snake ran for Oliver's corvette. "Everybody else, on the bus."

**xXx**

"How good are you at evasive driving?" Snake asked as they drew near to the car.

"Decent…?" Marth hazarded, his hand hovering over the driver's side door handle.

"Not good enough. Get in the other side," Snake growled, launching himself across the passenger side and into the driver's seat. With a sigh, Marth hopped over the hood and got into the other chair. He had barely fastened his seat belt when Snake revved the engine and spun the car out of its parking space, making straight for the freeway.

"Do you think the doctor was lying about his license plate?" Snake said coolly as he merged into the freeway traffic at ninety miles-per-hour and continued accelerating.

"Uhm…" Marth was bracing himself against the side of the vehicle, his eyes wide as he tried not to imagine what would happen if Snake turned too quickly or happened to round a curve and hit something. "…I don't…think so…? Why?"

"Because if he did, then soon we'll have an escort of about eight police cars and most likely a helicopter," Snake said matter-of-factly, weaving from the passing lane to the shoulder as he leapfrogged past several cars that, in his opinion, weren't going fast enough. The needle on the speedometer was getting up into the hundreds as he continued with, "And I think that would really be detrimental to our goal, right?"

"Right…" Marth murmured. His leg shook, and for a moment he thought he was just trembling from nerves, but then he remembered Oliver's cell phone and fished it out from his pocket, flicking it open and holding it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Marth," came a crackly version of Oliver's voice. "Can you hear me?"

Marth leaned up against the window and plugged his other ear, trying to drown out the ridiculous amount of background noise. "How can I help you?"

"Where are you?"

Marth tried to read a street sign, but it flashed by in a blur before he could even make out the name of the interstate. He laughed nervously and said, "I have no idea. We're on the highway, heading north."

"Give him here," Snake said, holding a hand out for the phone.

"Are you nuts?" Marth squeaked. Snake just kept his hand out, and with a resigned sigh and a prayer to some higher deity that he not die that night, Marth told Oliver that he was passing the phone and let it drop into Snake's palm.

**xXx**

Back on the bus, Ike announced for the third time that he had no idea how to drive such a large motor vehicle and would not be held responsible if they crashed. Oliver, who was sitting in the back, across from Ganondorf, actually shouted at him to shut up and pointed an explanatory finger at the new phone he was holding in his hand.

"Ah, okay," he said into the receiver, and then cupped his free hand over his other ear, listening to whatever Snake was saying on the other end. A few rows ahead of him, Pit was googling Ghirahim on Stoelhart's laptop, perusing through Zeldapedia articles, trying to figure out how much of a threat he really was. Up in the front of the bus, Samus and Roy had found Marth's computer in his bag and were amusing themselves trying to guess the password.

Oliver snapped the phone shut and stood up, walking carefully along the aisle to sit down next to Pit and reclaim his laptop for himself.

"Find anything useful?" he asked as he pulled up a separate program, tapping in a ten-digit password that appeared to mostly be letters. A grid blossomed on his screen, with a blipping red dot in the center. He clicked and dragged a separate blue dot to the bottom corner and started typing things into a text box as Pit began to regurgitate information.

"He's strong, good with swords, fast, magical…he can create things out of thin air, bring inanimate objects to life, teleport, perform telekinesis, generate tornados and fire electricity from his hands…Oh, and he's emotionally unstable. Bipolar or something."

"…Ah." Oliver grimaced.

"And that's only what we know about him from the game," Pit concluded morosely. "There could be other stuff we don't know about. Skyward Sword Link fought him three times in the game and each time was on Ghirahim's terms and ended with Ghirahim leaving when he decided to."

"Well, there's not much you can do against somebody who can teleport." Oliver passed his laptop back to Pit, and walked further down the aisle, tapping Sheik on the shoulder.

She had been helping the others try to figure out Marth's password and jumped, whirling around.

"Do you know anything about teleporting?" he asked coolly. "Like how you would stop somebody from doing it?"

Sheik shrugged and tossed the end of her scarf over her shoulder. "You can't. The only thing you might do to make it harder for the person would be to lock them in a place they aren't familiar with. At least in my case, I can only teleport to places I've already been."

"Alright, that's good to know," Oliver nodded.

Roy, the junior strategist, looked up from where he was now typing strings of gibberish into the passcode bar. "So…that means that we're safe anywhere that Ghirahim can't get to. Like locked rooms and places that he wouldn't have needed to go into yet."

"Exactly," the psychiatrist nodded. "Except that with his whole telekinesis thing, I don't think locked doors would be much of a problem for him."

"If we could get to the sound booth, we could blast some sort of high frequency noise that would stop him from being able to concentrate enough to perform magic or telekinesis," Samus strategized.

"Which is great, except for the fact that the sound booth is right smack dab in the middle of the entire stadium," Sheik grumbled, propping her feet up against the window.

"It's an idea," Oliver sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We can work with ideas." He looked out towards the rest of the bus. "Anybody else have any excellent ideas?"

"Stop him from getting to the weapons locker?" Mario suggested glumly.

"Aw dang," Roy murmured, letting his head thunk against the cold window. "I didn't even think of that. He'll have all of our stuff."

Oliver leaned up against a hair, his hands in his pockets, and happened to catch a glimpse of Quincy, who had remained uncharacteristically silent through the whole conversation. The poor pokemon trainer was sprawled out across one of the bench seats, head tucked in the crook of his elbow, hat at an awkward angle on his hair, fast asleep. In the seat in front of him, the Ice Climber siblings were propped up against one another, equally oblivious to the goings on of the conscious world.

The psychiatrist took in the haggard appearances of everybody else on the bus, noticing the way Luigi and Peach were nodding off and the way Roy kept blinking and rubbing at his eyes, and finally made his way up to the front, letting a hand drop on Ike's shoulder.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Ike confessed sleepily, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

"You were doing fine," Oliver chided. "But you need some sleep. You all do. Here, we'll switch drivers. I've got the wheel…" He kept the bus going straight while Ike shimmied out of the seat. There was a momentary deceleration for the moment where neither one of them was touching the pedals, but then Oliver settled and the bus regained its lost momentum. Ike hovered awkwardly at the front for a few minutes, rubbing sweaty palms against his jeans, but then turned away.

Oliver, without taking his eyes from the road, found the microphone and turned it on a lower volume, trying not to disturb the ones who had already fallen asleep. "Why don't you guys call it a night? There's nothing we can do until the boys call us with more information. For now, just sit tight and try to grab a few hours of sleep, okay?"

Various soft noises of agreement and thanks reached him, and he dialed back on the internal lights, leaving the dashboard as the only light on the bus.

**xXx**

Marth, on the other hand, didn't have a psychiatrist to tell him to go to sleep, and was still doggedly trying to keep himself awake as Snake navigated them around the edge of Portland in the early hours of the morning. The sun was already completely above the horizon, but he still kept nodding off despite his best efforts.

Snake didn't look all that much worse for wear, but then again, he had been sleeping much better than Marth had been lately. He didn't have obnoxious, distracting friends keeping him up at all hours of the night and forcing him to play energetic games all through the day.

"Still no word?" he asked, and Marth glanced down dully at the cell phone in his lap and shook his head, curling up into a more comfortable position against the side of the car.

There was a silence, and Snake shot a glance at the teenager tucked up next to him, one knee drawn up to his chest, the other leg resting on the dashboard, an arm flung over his eyes to shield them from the piercing morning sunlight. With a sigh, Snake pulled off at the nearest exit and began looking for a gas station.

Marth perked up at the deceleration to normal speed limits and managed a hazy, "What're you doing?"

"Pit stop," Snake announced crisply. "We need to get some caffeine into you."

"Oh my gosh I love you," Marth moaned, reaching down to fish out his shoes, which he had kicked off earlier in an attempt to remain comfortable.

Ten minutes later had a gang of boys swarming in awe around the corvette in the parking lot of an Exxon Mobil gas station and Snake watching them through the window over a cup of coffee as he waited for Marth to come out of the bathroom. The Altean came out eventually, scratching the back of his head (they were close enough to the big city that nobody looked twice at his hair) and yawning. He happily accepted the second cup of coffee that Snake pushed his way, and looked down at the can of Monster that the older man had apparently purchased for the rest of the ride.

"Ready to get moving again?" Snake asked as soon as the Styrofoam cup was empty. Marth nodded, and they made for the car again.

**xXx**

Oliver checked in with them around ten-thirty, while Ike briefly took control of the wheel again to take everybody through a McDonalds for brunch.

"How's it going?"

It was Marth on the phone. "We got stuck in a gridlock traffic jam for a bit, so we're farther behind than Snake would like, but we're past Seattle, so he think's we've only got a few more hours. Maybe less."

"Sounds good. You haven't gotten stopped by police for speeding yet?"

"Nope," Marth laughed. "And we've been doing one-twenty for the majority of the drive, so whatever you have on your plate must be working. Where are you guys?"

"We're about halfway through Oregon at the moment—we probably won't get there until late afternoon and maybe not until later. We're about to hit Portland lunch traffic and will probably get stuck in Seattle rush hour."

"We haven't heard from Sonic at all," Marth said anxiously. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Oliver moved the blue pin on his grid past Seattle and looked up again at the red one. "I have a tracker in his shoe—he's up at the complex, but he's been moving around enough that I don't think he's been caught."

"…You have a tracker… in Sonic's shoe…?" Marth echoed incredulously.

"I have one in your laptop too, belated-FYI," Oliver confessed, not sounding guilty at all.

"You…_what?_"

"Just worry about getting there, okay? Stay in touch."

"…You son of a—"

Oliver snapped the phone shut, and went back up to the front to resume driving.

**xXx**

Marth was still stewing about the laptop thing as they pulled off of the highway two hours later and started off down the country roads leading to the stadium.

"So, he's an assassin," Snake confirmed, navigating the sharp turns easily despite the fact that he was taking them at one-hundred-twenty miles-per-hour. Marth had spilled the whole story as he vented, figuring that that was about as much revenge as he would be able to take.

"Yes. Or something like that," he steamed. "You know who he is? He's Jonathan Crane. He's the Scarecrow, man. What is with psychiatrists and being evil? You'd think there'd be a mental exam or something…You'd like to think that 'previous job: assassin' would trip a few red flags."

"Do you see that?" Snake said, cutting across Marth's rant, pointing to a pillar of smoke rising on the horizon.

Marth scowled, instantly sobered, and nodded. "Do you think…?"

"I don't know of anything else around here besides the stadium that would smoke like that," Snake agreed. "If it were the woods, the smoke would be more widespread, and something small like a farmer burning some grass wouldn't make that thick of a pillar."

"Can this thing go any faster?"

**xXx**

The corvette rolled to a stop at the edge of a hill, and the two inside it climbed out and clambered up to peek over the edge.

"…Jeez," Marth murmured, unable to come up with anything else to say.

The stadium—usually shining and hovering level in the sky—was blackened and crooked now. Smoke was leaking from broken windows, and occasionally the whole thing would rock as the machines that were supposed to be keeping it in the air would falter. Shards of metal littered the ground beneath it, and as the two of them watched, there was a small burst of light from the southern end, accompanied by a bang and another plume of smoke, and the whole thing wobbled again and fell about two yards before lurching to a stop and stabilizing.

"There are still people in there," Marth whispered disbelievingly, beginning to creep over the lip of the hill. "You could hear them scream when it fell."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Snake snarled, grabbing the teenager by the shirtsleeve and wrenching him back. "We're supposed to wait here until the others arrive. We don't even know that we can get up there."

Marth slapped the man's hand away, his eyes sparking angrily. "Look, that place is overflowing with smoke. There are people—most of them kids—stuck in there. The fire department isn't going to touch this. We're the only ones who can get in there and save them. Besides, Sonic is in there too—and there's no way he knows that we're waiting for him. At least one of us has to go in there and find him to let him know that reinforcements are on their way and learn whatever he's found out, and if we can rescue some kids too, all the better."

"Stoelhart told us to check everything over with him, and given what you told me, I'm actually much more inclined to trust his judgment in a scenario like this."

"Stoelhart, in case you hadn't noticed, is a liar and a hypocrite, and I'm not going to wait to be told what to do, Snake. I can take care of myself." With a face, Marth climbed over the lip of the hill and slid down the opposite side, keeping close to the ground and an eye on the stadium, watching for any hostile attack.

"Just wait until I've called him," Snake insisted in a loud whisper.

"I'm not a child," Marth retorted. "I don't need somebody to hold my hand, and I have never been one to ask for permission. Follow me if you want, otherwise wait until I come back."

"What if you don't?"

"Then you get to say 'I told you so' later." With that, Marth broke into a run, zigzagging across the burnt grass and stopping underneath the doors. Against all the odds, they still worked, and he was beamed up inside, leaving Snake to curse bitterly to himself and stalk back to the car to pick up the phone that Marth had left behind.

**xXx**

"Hello?"

"Marth went in by himself."

Oliver wrenched the bus into park—they weren't moving anyway—and shot to his feet. "He _what?_"

"I tried to stop him, but he ran off."

"You _'tried to stop him?'_ Come on, Snake. I only sent you with him to stop him from doing something stupid like this! Where is he now?"

"Inside," Snake said sullenly. "He's looking for Sonic."

Stoelhart's hands clenched and unclenched, and he looked down at the rest of the bus, the occupants of which—especially Samus and Ike—were now looking at him anxiously. Lowering his voice, Oliver sighed heavily and said, "There's nothing we can do now. Call me if he's not back in an hour." He hung up without waiting for confirmation and glanced at the dashboard clock. 1:43, and they were still stuck in Seattle. It would be several more hours at least before they were able to offer Snake any extra assistance.

**xXx**

It took Marth several moments to get his bearings. Everything was smoky and dim, the few surviving light fixtures doing very little to actually illuminate everything. He coughed, and once he started it became incredibly hard to stop. The air was full of dust and ash, and his throat burned long after he'd thought to hold his shirt up over his face to filter the oxygen. The whole place was completely silent, except for the occasional crackle of flames or a bang as something broke or shifted. He felt like an elephant, clomping through the wreckage. His quiet footsteps sounded like massive stomps, and it was hard not to panic in the hellish environment. Broken beams and crumpled ceilings made the normally vast hallways claustrophobic, and the smoke made it impossible to see around any of the corners.

The Altean's heart was hammering in his chest until he found a supply closet, its contents mostly untouched by the fire, and armed himself with a light metal pipe, wrenched from a mop, its broken tip sharp. He also soaked a rag in water and tied it over his nose and mouth, blocking out the majority of the smoke. Feeling much more confident, he proceeded. Twice, he thought he saw shadows moving in the distance, but they disappeared before he could reach them and he wasn't enough of an idiot to shout.

He proceeded cautiously to the center of the complex, figuring that that would be where the staffers were being kept. He had hoped in the beginning that there would be stragglers—staffers that Ghirahim had missed, but he hadn't seen another living soul since he had entered and he had been careful to check under all of the fallen debris for anybody trapped.

In reality, nobody could have faulted him for failing to notice the pale form materializing behind him. There was no accompanying noise, nor did the figure's footfalls give him away until it was almost too late.

Marth realized that somebody was there just in time and whirled around with a cry, instinctively ducking and jabbing out with his improvised lance. Instinct saved his life as a black sabre sliced over his head, but the metal pole was also easily dodged, and they leapt apart to face one another.

The demon's appearance was no different than it had been in the games, down to the pure white of his hair and the smug smile on his lips.

"You aren't from around here, are you?" he questioned in English, his voice holding an aristocratic accent that made him seem somewhat sophisticated, despite the lack of coverage his clothing provided. "You're…different from the others. Tell me." He gestured around himself with the tip of his sword. "Where am I? I found myself wandering around a certain mountainous region that I knew extremely well, only to be tugged through some sort of void and find myself here, in unfamiliar territory. This world is a strange place, full of doors and noise. Share your knowledge, boy, and I will attempt to return the favor." He plunged his sword into the ground and held his hand out.

Marth licked his lips underneath the rag and shrugged, refusing the outstretched arm. "You're on earth, Ghirahim."

His smile slipped a notch. "If you know my name, you should know that I prefer to be addressed as 'lord.'"

"I prefer to be addressed as 'king,' but you don't see me getting all snippy," Marth retorted.

Ghirahim raised a slim eyebrow. "Ah. What kingdom do you preside over? I was unaware that there was a kingdom of men on the surface."

"Oh, there are loads, just not where you're from. You're in a whole different dimension. Everything's different here." Marth glanced at the sword. "Let's say that we call a truce, and maybe I can help you get your bearings."

Ghirahim's dark eyes raked over him, pausing for a moment on his hair, before flicking down to the improvised weapon that he still held in his hands. "What kingdom are you from?" he asked again, his voice smooth and calm.

"I'm like you: I'm not from here," Marth said slowly, the back of his neck prickling. Ghirahim took a step forward, and he immediately took a step back, holding up his pipe in-between them. "Look, you cannot gain anything from me. …_Back off_."

"Or can I?" Ghirahim replied calmly. "My offer still stands, child. Tell me what I long to learn about this world, and I will do my best to tell you of mine. Perhaps we can benefit one another."

"Oh, I already know all about your world," Marth snapped. "And I know all about you."

"Do you?" The pale man almost looked amused.

"Yeah. At least I know enough to know that you wouldn't honor any agreement we made if I were to ever get in your way."

"And do you plan to get in my way, boy?"

"Heck yes." Marth lashed out with his pipe, and Ghirahim sprang backwards, dodging the initial swing. Marth pressed the advantage for a minute, drawing out another few feet of distance, before turning and sprinting back the way he came.

"Mistake." With a flash of golden diamonds, Ghirahim materialized directly in front of him, sword raised, smile huge. Marth continued anyway, running straight at the wall with the intent of vaulting off of the side and slicing at Ghirahim's head from above, but the combination of an untimely lurch of the stadium and the burnt and weakened conditioned of the drywall caused it to crumble underneath his foot, and he went sprawling down the hallway, whacking his head on a fallen metal beam hard enough to make him see stars.

He swung blindly as he clambered back to his feet, only to have the pipe meet a sudden resistance. He looked up; willing his vision to stop spinning, and saw that his weapon was held in a white, gloved hand. He barely had time to process the fact before the pipe was wrenched from his grip and sent swinging for his head.

Marth barely dodged and tripped backwards, watching Ghirahim advance on him, pole in one hand, sword in the other.

"You cannot run from me, boy," the demon said softly. "I admit that you are fast, but I am faster. You cannot hit me."

With a snarl, Marth dropped his body weight and proceeded to fling the majority of it into a scissor kick, one foot connecting solidly with Ghirahim's hand, the other slamming into his neck. Almost calmly, Ghirahim dropped the pipe to grab Marth's ankle, and promptly used it to fling the Altean through a wall.

There was an explosion of ash, and somewhere in the midst of it all Marth's rag had fallen off. He was wracked with coughs as he stood up and started backing his way across the room, piling as many items as he could move in-between himself and the hole in the drywall. There was a flash of diamonds behind him, and he was sent scrambling back the way he came, eventually leaping to the side as the metal pipe was thrown at his head. The pointed tip caught him in the shoulder, and he spun and staggered into another wall, which, like the first, couldn't hold his weight. He fell through again, landing flat on his back, shoulder bleeding, head spinning, utterly winded.

Ghirahim didn't bother to teleport, preferring to instead pick his way through the debris, pausing to smile down at the Altean prince, who scowled and rolled to his feet, throwing an impossibly fast punch for the demon's face. There was no time to dodge.

There was an audible crunch, accompanied by a howl of pain, and Marth dropped to the floor, clutching at his hand.

"Tell me," Ghirahim said softly. "Did you break three fingers just now or four?"

Marth growled something profane up at him, eyes squeezed shut and injured hand held tightly to his chest, knees drawn up to his chest, every muscle in his body tensed as he tried not to yelp.

"As I said," the demon whispered. "You cannot hit me." He grinned. "Although I commend your effort. You did come awfully close."

Something whacked his forehead, and the edges of Marth's vision started to blacken. He struggled to hang on, concentrating on the pain in his hand as an anchor. He managed to make out a second person approach the blur of white that was Ghirahim, touching the demon lord on the shoulder in a familiar way.

"Is this one of yours?" Marth heard Ghirahim ask pleasantly, and felt the tip of a boot against his shoulder, where the pole had hit it.

The darker of the two blurs shook what Marth assumed was its head. "No. The son of Gawain was…bigger."

"Pity. I thought you could have some fun with him." A rustle of fabric, and Ghirahim's face suddenly loomed large in Marth's limited vision. "I know you're still awake, boy." A cold hand rested on the top of his head. "But not for much longer."

Marth could do nothing but stare in disbelief at the large form that stood behind Ghirahim.

The demon lord followed his glazed eyes and smirked. "Ah, yes. This is a world of many doors, boy. It just so happens that a little birdie told me how to open some of them."

Marth longed to ask who had told him how to open the warps, but the darkness was creeping across his vision faster now, and with a small moan, he fell off into the black abyss, the sound of Ghirahim's laughter following him. He dreamt of ash and fire and pain…but mostly of the smug look on Snake's face as he pointed down at him and said: "I told you so."

**xXx**

2:43.

Oliver's phone rang.

"He's not back."

"I didn't think so," Oliver sighed. "Just wait for us, okay? We'll be there soon."

**XXX**

**[Edit:] Catsrae pointed out to me that Zelgius would have referred to Ike as the "son of Gawain" as opposed to the "son of Greil" as I originally had. Thanks so much. XD Also, there were SOOOO many typos in this thing the first time around. I have no idea how they all slipped through. I fixed the ones I noticed. =_=**

**Ghirahim does not understand the concept of personal space. ::troll:: And yes, I totally fudged my way through the whole explanation of the warps, leavemealone.**

**Once again, Marth was taking up too much of the spotlight, so I temporarily removed him from the equation. It's because I love him. *straight-faced* At least this time Ike didn't get dragged into it. Yes, I'm an awful person. Speaking of talkative people who I may or may not kill off, Oliver's gotten awfully chatty lately, hasn't he? Dun dun duuuuuuun.**

**Ah, it's been too long since I've written a legit fight scene. Explanation for Marth's fail: he's a sword guy. None of his moves to the best of my knowledge involve him kicking or punching. [edit: I googled it, and it turns out that he actually uses his legs quite a bit for tripping and stuff. But—again—you try tripping a demon lord when he's chasing you with a sword.] You take away his weapon and his best chance of survival is probably running away, except when you're fighting with a dude who teleports, running away isn't really an option. **

**Where did Sonic go, you ask? I was toying with the idea of having him stop in Portland because, if you will recall, he loves the place and have him arrive AFTER Snake and Marth, thus adding a twist of irony to the whole thing, but I scrapped it at the last minute. He's in the stadium somewhere, poking around, utterly oblivious…He'll be back in the story soon enough, no worries.**

**Right. That got the ball rolling.**

**Please review.**


	62. Chapter 62: Finale pt 2

**[EDIT:] Mouse is an idiot~ Turns out that "cuckoo" is actually spelled "cucco." Just goes to show you that I need to research things more carefully. *facedesk* Argh. Fixing that now.**

**Thanks to _Guest_; It's insane, isn't it? ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; I'll see what I can do. ~ Thanks to _KiKat813_; Dah bloooood! ~ Thanks to _Mariko Midori_; No kidding. I love your avatar, BTW. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIII_; Well…you know how Marth is. And there will be glorious Smarthus, yes. =3= like a sir. ~ Thanks to _DemonColours_; Thus, a beautiful friendship was born. Or fiendship. I made a punny. ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; Ah, sorry, Seattle and Oregon are both on the west coast of the USA. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _seqka711_; Well, the password is revealed in this chappie—it's all good. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; Wootz! Glad you enjoyed. ~ Thanks to _Brightcrest_; MARTH IS AN IDIOT. Enough said. My Marth is not a team player like he's supposed to me, but I love him that way. XD ~ Thanks to _neuron6_; Oh yeah...well…maybe. We'll see if there'll be OC fluff. ~ Thanks to another _Guest_; Yup, Link will get his shot at Ghirahim eventually. ~ Thanks to _MusicGamer_; I do love Ghirahim when he's not being an utter perv. ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; OH NOO! THE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS ARE BURNT! I didn't even think about that. D: ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Thank you so much for the Griel vs. Gawain correct. I know nothing of Ike's games. XD ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; I WISH I'd thought of that. I feel like my twist is majorly cheesy. And yes, I am working on the contest chapter, but I hit a mental block. I'll work on that soon. *bows* Very sorry! X_x ~ Thanks to _Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye_; Yeah, I played Uprising, and it was glorious, glorious fun. Have you? ~ Thanks _to SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; D: Aw no…Hope your math test went well. ~ Thanks to _STKB_; Oh, there will be cuckoos. ~ Thanks to _Hitomi Kogure_; Oh my gosh. X`D YES. Ghirahim and his fabulousness. ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; Wow, thank you. ^_^ I'm glad you enjoy. ~ Thanks to _Draconis Kitten Sweetie_; You are special and stuff. ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee_; Wootz! Thanks so much. ~ Thanks to _Therewillbebrawl_; Ah, you're very welcome. ~ Thanks to _Haku's Best Friend_; Wow, thanks a lot. ^_^ I like doing it. ~ Thanks to _CEObrainz_; oooh…That's a fun idea, isn't it? Ghirahim and a smash ball…hrm. ~ Thanks to _Ray-Kat-Hollows_; XD YAY! *noms cookies* ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; ME. ~ Thanks to _ttme123_; Yes, you did, but no biggie. XD Link really isn't weirded out by much. You'd have to be like…super weird. ~ And thanks to _Lost Triforce_; Indeed. Silly Marth.**

**What is with you people and blood? I got several questions asking "Will there be blood?" And please forgive the awfulness of my review responses this time. I am dead tired. *goes off to collapse in a corner of happiness and rainbows***

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything Nintendo. And about the cuccos—THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY. **

**So tiiiired. =_= Please read, enjoy another massive chapter, ignore the no-doubt many typos, and review!**

**xXx**

**Chapter 62: Finale: Part 2**

Sonic paused and edged his way around a corner, stepping lightly over what had used to be a television. Its screen was cracked now, and the plastic of its frame had melted into the floor. He had tried not to think about it until now, but it was really scary to see the stadium like this. It had been fine two days ago, and now…

Something suddenly imploded the wall beside him, and Sonic just caught a glimpse of white hair before bolting out of the hallway as fast as he could. Whatever the white thing was chased him, managing to keep up surprisingly well, although it always disappeared out of his sight before he could tell exactly what it was.

No matter what it was, he wasn't losing it. Nothing was supposed to be able to keep up with him, but here it was.

He dodged to the left and desperately threw himself out of a broken window, counting on the reduced height of the stadium to prevent personal injury. A pale hand brushed his foot as he jumped, but couldn't get a hold.

Sonic tumbled out into the open air with a yelp and plummeted to the ground, his fall broken by the hood of a red corvette.

Snake had bailed out of the car just in time and was now picking himself up from the grass. "So there you are."

The hedgehog sat up groggily from the dented metal and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess…"

Snake edged around the side of the car, checking Sonic for any obvious injury. "Are you okay?"

"Think so, yeah," Sonic said as he sat up. "Where's Marth?"

"He ran off inside a couple of hours ago," Snake said grimly. "Looking for you. Why'd you suddenly appear out of nowhere?"

"Somebody was chasing me," Sonic said breathlessly, shaking his aching head. "I don't know who. But I've been running around in there for hours and I couldn't find any of the staffers." He glanced sidelong at Snake, eyes nervous. "What do you think that means?"

"It just means that they're hidden somewhere where you didn't think to look," Snake said calmly. "You aren't exactly a wizard at hide-and-seek, are you?"

"No," Sonic agreed, his shoulders slumping with relief. "So you think they're still okay?"

"Sure I do," Snake nodded. "When we all go in there to look together, I'm sure we'll find them."

"And Marth too—do you think Marth's okay?" Sonic blurted.

"Marth was aware of the risks when he went in there and I'm sure he can manage himself," Snake said coolly. "He'll be fine."

"Oh…okay." Sonic didn't sound reassured. "So…when are the others coming?"

"They'll be here any minute now."

Sonic hopped off the front of the car, inspecting the large, hedgehog-shaped dent on the hood. "…Do you think Stoelhart will be mad about that?"

"Yes," Snake said without hesitation. "Did you know he had that car restored?"

"…I'm gonna die…." Sonic whimpered.

"Yes you are," Snake agreed. "Just say that Ghirahim threw you and maybe he'll have mercy."

"He almost did throw me," Sonic said nervously. "At least, I think that's who it was."

Snake nodded towards the hovering stadium. "What's it like up there?"

"…Scary," Sonic said decidedly. "You can't see anything there's so much smoke, and every now and then the whole floor shakes. You can't even tell what rooms used to be what anymore."

"Could you find anything salvageable?"

The blue hedgehog shook his head. "Not that I saw. Anything that isn't burnt is busted."

"Did you see the weapon's locker?"

"Scary thing: it's empty."

Snake hissed in a breath though his teeth. "That's not good."

The low sound of an engine could suddenly be heard, and Snake advised Sonic to save the rest of his story for later so he wouldn't have to tell it twice. Before too long, the coach bus trundled over the side of the hill before easing to a stop.

Brawlers spilled out en masse, all of them stopping in their tracks the moment they stepped outside to stare at the struggling stadium.

The teenagers seemed less concerned than most, pushing their way to the front of the group to see Sonic standing lankily beside the car. They all rushed to him and asked if he had any news on where Marth had gone, and he had nothing to offer to them.

"I haven't seen him," he said miserably. "Which doesn't mean anything," he went on hurriedly, catching the horrified look on the girls' faces and the slightly resigned look that passed over the boys'. "I didn't see any of the staffers either—I must've just been looking in the wrong places."

Oliver staggered out of the bus last, looking haggard and spent.

"Right," he sighed, his exhaustion obvious in his voice and posture. "You guys will have to start this without me—I'm about to keel over. My computer's on the bus, if you need to look anything up." He started shuffling back inside, probably to collapse into the nearest chair, but then remembered something and pivoted back around. "As a last resort—I have a safe in my closet."

Sheik nodded, remembering it from a hide-and-seek game.

"The password is 'Valentinus,'" Oliver said. "The Latin form of Valentine. It's the password to my computer too. All lower-case letters except for the 'us' at the end: valentinUS. You got that?"

"What's inside the case?" Link asked, too shell-shocked by the whole scenario to really be surprised.

"A gun," Oliver said simply. "A handgun. It's to be used as a last resort only. Goodnight."

And then he staggered back inside the bus and latched the door behind him.

"Okay…" Link was the first to say, unable to help feeling like Marth would've been the one taking command if he had been around. "Anybody have any brilliant ideas?"

"Charge?" Ganondorf suggested dryly. Sheik gave him a look, and he shrugged. "It was just a suggestion. I don't plan to take any part in this."

"Seriously?" Link growled. "You're just going to sit this one out?"

"As opposed to being ordered around by you and going in there and actually…_saving_ somebody?" The huge man was smiling like it was the easiest decision in the world. "Yes."

"I'm with him," Dedede agreed, and Bowser and Wario plopped themselves down on the grass.

Link scowled and threw his hands up into the air. "FINE!" he shouted. "Anybody else feel that way?"

Nobody else left.

"So…" Pit started in a small voice. "What are we going to do?"

Link sneered in Ganondorf's general direction, but the man just shrugged in a 'what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it' sort of way.

"We," the Hylian said softly. "Are going to charge, just like Ganondalf said."

"That's a new one," Ganondorf remarked.

Link continued as if he hadn't said anything. "There are so many of us and only one guy—we'll be able to beat him easy."

"Um…How are you planning to overpower a telepathic teleporter?" Sonic queried innocently. "The weapons locker is empty."

"We'll improvise," Link assured him. "There's got to be some stuff that survived the fire. A broom handle, a bat, smash balls…something. Right?"

Sonic just shook his head sadly. "There's nothing. You can't even get to the stadium. All of the hallways are blocked."

"We have to try!" Link cried. "Come on—we have to do something!" He whirled on Sonic. "How did you get inside?"

"The doors are working. But, like I said, everything's broken or burnt."

"Why don't we split into groups?" Roy asked, obviously itching to move. "Let's just try to stick together and stay within shouting distance of one another."

"I think we should try to stick together as much as possible," Sheik said. "And I think we should stop by Stoelhart's office before we do anything else and grab the gun. That'll at least be something, right?"

Snake agreed with Sheik, and then glanced at the rest of the group for approval as he asked, "Would it be alright if I took the gun, once we find it?"

"Let's just find it first," Wolf was quick to say. "Then we'll worry about that."

"Can we just get moving, please?" Ike said, already creeping over the side of the hill towards the valley that the stadium was sinking into, Roy and Samus right on his tail. "I don't care what we do or the order that we do it in—I just want to do something."

"Right, right…let's go."

**xXx**

Ganondorf had produced a deck of cards from his pocket and was resignedly starting to deal out for a game of hearts as the little war band trooped off. He watched them out of the corner of his eye as a scuffle broke out beneath the doors over how they were going to get up into the stadium. Apparently, not everybody could fit through at once. It took them a few minutes to get themselves sorted out into some sort of order, and he secretly hoped that Marth was still alive and would yell their heads off for taking so long to organize a simple rescue mission.

Eventually, the heroes were all lined up, and they went two at a time up into the crumbling stadium.

A few minutes passed in silence, and as Dedede leaned over to explain to Bowser for the fourth time that he couldn't play hearts unless he was out of diamonds, Ganondorf caught a string of foreign conversation that—strangely enough—seemed to be coming from the bus.

"Hold on," he told the other two, rising to his feet and creeping as stealthily as he was able over to the bus doors. He pressed his ear against the glass pane and listened, just managing to pick up strands of conversation in what he assumed was Japanese, but couldn't understand. He could identify the one speaking as Oliver though, which was funny, because he was supposed to be sleeping.

He knocked on the door lightly with his knuckle and whispered, "What are you doing in there…?"

Despite himself, the demon thief was becoming interested.

**xXx**

Link and Ike were the first two to appear inside the doors. Both of them almost immediately doubled over, coughing with the smoke, and it was then that Link noticed what was littering the floor.

He screamed and leapt backwards, almost knocking Ike over. The latter grabbed his shoulders and shook him, hissing, "What the heck is wrong with you?"

Link was frozen, staring at the small, clucking creatures pecking at the burnt ground all around them. "Ike," he managed to whisper. "Don't move. For the love of all things holy don't touch them."

"They're _chickens_," Ike felt the need to point out rationally. "What are they going to do, peck your eyes out?"

"Yes," Link said emphatically. "Those aren't any chickens—they're cuccos."

"No they aren't," Ike said soothingly. "How could cuccos be here? They're only from Hyrule."

"Yeah, but these are them. Ike, I know what I'm talking about—DUDE! _Don't touch them!_" He pressed himself against the wall as Ike reached out a hand towards one of the white birds, which clucked disapprovingly and fluttered a few feet away.

"They aren't cuccos," Ike said again. "That's impossible."

"I'm serious, Ike," the Hylian begged. "Don't do it. You'll kill us both."

"Would you stop being a wuss? Come on—I think we can handle a few chickens." His hand brushed against its feathers, and in a moment the whole flock burst into cawing fluffy of activity, claws flung wide as they all surged en masse towards the two teenagers. Link screamed again and ducked down, covering his head and shoulders. Ike yelled as a talon raked across his face and stumbled the other way, running into a warm body that hadn't been there a few minutes before.

It took several minutes for them to settle down, and Link lifted his head warily, wincing as several deep gashes along his arms and hands started to bleed.

"Ike…?" he called, looking out among the sea of white, contrasting with the burnt blacks and browns of the walls around him. But no matter where he looked, there was no blue. "_IKE!_"

Roy and Pit popped through the doorway next, both equally shocked by the chickens and the blood on Link.

"Don't touch them," Link warned, his voice steadier than it had been the first time. Taking a deep breath, he edged his way into the flock, breathing a sigh of relief when they didn't attack again. "…Ike?"

"You lost Ike?" Roy burst out.

"I don't know," Link murmured. "He was here a minute ago, but now…"

"Why are there chickens everywhere?" Zelda asked brightly as she popped through with Sheik.

"Ike's gone AWOL," Roy announced.

Sheik's face went white, and she would have dashed off then and there had her counterpart not grabbed her by the arm.

"Let's just think about this for a minute," Zelda started to say calmly. Her eyes narrowed as she finally made the connection with the chickens and the bloody streaks on Link. "Why are there cuccos everywhere?"

Samus and Peach appeared directly behind them, and the small group stumbled—carefully—backwards to make room.

"I don't know," Link said as another couple came up. "But Ike's missing and—"

"Ike's missing?" Captain Falcon—who had just appeared exclaimed. Link sighed and gave up, waiting for everybody to appear before he started off on his explanation of events again.

"DON'T touch the birds," he, Sheik, and Zelda all yelped in unison as Falco reached out a hand towards one. Link quickly related what had happened, and announced that he had no idea where Ike had gone.

"Well, let's spread out and look!" Sheik blurted, her face blotched with color as if it couldn't decide whether to be white or flushed. "He can't have gotten far! Come on, let's go!"

"There's a bigger problem at the moment," Zelda said curtly. "Ike's big; he can take care of himself. I'm more concerned about how these things got here." She glanced at her other two Legend of Zelda comrades. "Do either of you know if there were any cuccos in the Skyward Sword timeline?"

The other two shrugged awkwardly.

"I mean, how did they get here?" she elaborated.

"Could they have gotten sucked through when Ghirahim did?" Samus guessed.

"No, they would've died," Zelda said firmly. "Stoelhart made it sound like the only way that something non-magical could get from one world to the other would be through a finished warp, and the warp leading from Skyward Sword isn't finished yet. And even if it was, cuckoos can't activate it on their own: they're stupid."

A nearby chicken clucked indignantly, as if it had understood. Everybody threw it a nervous glance, but it appeared unoffended and continued pecking the ground indifferently.

"Look, we're all thinking the same thing," Fox said belatedly. "Ghirahim found out how to open the warps."

"All the more reason we should hurry up and find Ike!" Sheik shouted, once again trying to run off, only to have Link and Captain Falcon keep her from moving. She shook her hair out of her face, red eyes panicked. "Come on, let's go!"

"Our first priority is still the staffers," Wolf drawled.

"Our first priority is arming ourselves, which means the gun," Snake interjected. "We need to go to Stoelhart's office first. Then we'll figure everything else out."

"I still think that we need to figure out what's in the stadium," Sonic said softly. "If we're going to look for the staffers, that should be the first place we go."

"Not to mention we need to stop Ghirahim from bringing anything else through the warps," Quincy said. "Somebody should go back down to see if the warp is being guarded. We could even bring through reinforcements from—"

"Heck no," Roy said immediately. "That won't work. There's too high a chance of Ghirahim blowing up the warp behind you, leaving you stuck wherever you were trying to go."

"ALRIGHT," Link shouted, getting everybody's attention again. "Snake's right, we need to arm ourselves first. We'll go to Stoelhart's office first, and then we'll go check out the stadium. Quincy, why don't you take Pikachu and Zelda with you and go check out the warps? Don't go anywhere; just make sure nothing else gets brought through. Sound like a plan?"

"Rodger that," Quincy said and went back through the doors, Pikachu trailing after him.

"Why me?" Zelda asked.

"Because you don't need any weapons, and it's probably going to be safer out there than in here," Link said kindly, laying both hands on her shoulders. "Plus, Quincy needs somebody to watch his back if something goes wrong. All he's got is Pikachu."

With a small nod, she slipped out to follow the pokemon trainer.

"Right," Link said to everybody else, gingerly weaving a path through the mob of cuccos. "Let's find that safe."

**xXx**

The world fragmented around Ike from the moment he was grabbed, and then solidified somewhere else. He didn't know where he was in the complex; everything was too burnt to tell—although from the size of the room he suspected it was either one of the rec rooms or whatever was left of the cafeteria. His face stung from where he had been scratched, and before he had time to really get his bearing one of his knees was kicked out from behind. He rolled with the blow, trying to buy some time to find a weapon of some sort, but his pale attacker disappeared in a flash of diamonds and reappeared behind him, throwing off his recovery move. He tripped and landed sprawled on his stomach, felt the pressure of a boot on his back, stopping him from getting up again.

"He's all yours," a clipped, aristocratic voice said above his head. "I think this is the right one this time."

"Yes, this is the right one," said a new voice. Deeper. Softer, not nearly as flamboyant. Ike stiffened as he recognized it, tried without success to calm down, to relax.

"Enjoy," Ghirahim said, obviously with a grin even though Ike couldn't see his face. There was a dull flash, and the weight off his back disappeared. Immediately, he scrambled to his feet to see a heavily armored, bulky man with navy hair looking appraisingly down at him.

"You're supposed to be dead," Ike said, feigning nervousness as he edged towards a promising pile of wreckage, hoping see something he could substitute for a sword. He didn't see anything.

"So were you," the man quipped pleasantly. "Things don't always go according to plan."

"I noticed."

The Black Knight smirked. "Contrary to the circumstances, I have no intention of killing you today."

"That's nice," Ike nodded, slowly walking backwards towards the pile, hand held out behind him, hoping to feel something useful. His fingers closed around a thin, metal cylinder, probably a water pipe at one point. He gathered his legs underneath him and fixed his grip, preparing to run. "I have no such intentions."

He lunged, only to be wrenched back by the pipe that was still embedded in the wall. He staggered back, realizing that there wasn't time to grab anything else, unable to believe that he had been so stupid.

The older man laughed, and cracked something—a gauntlet or a sword hilt, it didn't really matter—against the side of Ike's head before he could turn back around.

"Until next time, son of Gawain. I hope to see improvement," he teased as Ike sank to the ground.

**xXx**

"Uh-oh," Quincy said as he and Zelda edged across the stadium's shadow towards the warp. "I see people."

Pikachu suddenly bristled and snarled, refusing to go past a certain point.

"What's wrong?" Quincy asked, scooping the protesting pokemon up into his arms. "Come on—let's see if we can figure out who they are before you flip out." He tapped the black nose teasingly. "You can take them, I'm sure."

Pikachu chirped something peevishly, but Quincy didn't understand.

"…I think I've seen those two on TV," Zelda admitted, pointing at the lanky man on the left. "He definitely looks familiar. Doesn't he look famil—" She turned to Quincy, only to see him looking down at the two, wide-eyed, like a kid waking up on Christmas morning.

"I think that's Team Rocket," he whispered breathily. "I think Team Rocket is guarding the warp."

**xXx**

"Well, this looks safe," Roy quipped, staring at the floor ahead of them leading to Oliver's office=-or lack thereof. The majority of the floor had actually fallen out, leaving only the beams left: several huge balance beams over a massive fall down to the grass below.

Samus rolled her eyes, hopping across one of the planks like it was the easiest thing in the world. She beckoned them from the other side. "Hurry up."

Sheik bit her lip and dashed after her. The beam creaked a little bit, and everybody stiffened. Sheik made it to the other side unscathed and grabbed Roy's hand to steady him when he crossed too. Snake crept across without incident, and Pit and Kirby just floated across, Pit carrying Lucas, Ness, Nana, Popo and Yoshi across one by one. The beam finally buckled and broke as Link tried to cross, but he leapt off and made it in time. Down on the ground, the two pieces landed with an ominous 'whump.'

"Okay, no more," he commanded as he brushed the ash and splinters off of his shirt and tried to snuff the sudden adrenaline rush that came from nearly plummeting to his disablement. "We don't all have to go, and we don't want to get stuck on this side of things."

Everybody remaining on the other side looked relieved.

Roy was already jiggling the door handle. "Locked," he proclaimed.

Samus simply raised a foot and drove her heel into the handle. It crumpled away into dust, and she strode in and repeated the process with the closet door. Popo darted around her, blinking into the embers that still lined the corners of what remained of the utility closet, tentatively reaching out a hand for the safe that—miraculously—looked unharmed.

"It's probably hot," Samus warned, a fraction of a second too late as Popo leapt backwards with a yelp. Roy bunched his hand inside his T-shirt and gingerly tapped the letters into the display as Nana consoled her brother. He hit the enter key…

…But the door didn't open. There was a beep, and the word 'incorrect' flashed across the screen.

"You probably spelled it wrong," Sheik said dismissively, pulling her scarf off to wrap around her index finger. "V-a-l-e-n-t-i-n-capital U-capital S. Enter."

'Incorrect.'

"That doesn't make sense," she said softly, blonde eyebrows coming together as she stepped aside to let Snake try. "Why would the password to Stoelhart's safe not be what he told us it was?"

Snake tapped in the word without the capital letters, then tried several variant spellings, wondering if there was a silent 'e' that had been forgotten about. As a last resort, he tried the default code.

Nothing worked.

"That doesn't make sense," he agreed, his fingers hovering over the keypad.

Sheik turned to look at Link questioningly. "What does this mean?"

"It means that either Stoelhart lied…" Link said, thinking aloud. "Or his password somehow changed without him knowing…Or this isn't his safe."

"How could that not be his safe?" Sheik asked as Snake doggedly continued plugging random words and phrases into the keypad.

"I don't know—it was just a thought." Link held his hands up defensively.

Sheik made an exasperated noise and turned on her heel, dancing across one of the remaining beams and holding her hands up to the brawlers who had remained behind, announcing, "It's a bust. We can't get the safe open. Stoelhart's code doesn't work. He must've given us the wrong code by accident or something."

"Who says it was an accident?" Wolf said tersely.

**xXx**

Ganondorf beat a fast retreat back to his card game as Oliver came staggering out of the bus, once again playing the exhausted psychiatrist.

"So you all stayed behind?" he asked groggily, examining Wario's hand from behind him.

Ganondorf 'hmm'ed noncommittally and played on Dedede's four of hearts with the queen of spades.

"Ganondorf," Oliver said crisply, commanding eye contact. "Would you mind coming with me for a minute?"

"What do you need me for?" the large man grumbled, faking unwillingness to stand up.

"I need protection."

Ganondorf smiled as warmly as he could. "If you're planning to go up there"—he inclined his chin towards the smoking stadium—"You can forget it. I said I wasn't going and I don't intend to reverse my decision now."

"Just follow me. I think you'll appreciate this," Oliver said easily. "I'll be sure to make it worth your while."

**xXx**

"Yes," Snake hissed triumphantly. There was a click, and the word 'open' flashed across the screen. Link and Roy—the only two who had remained behind while everybody else had run off to check out the stadium, both whirled around.

"How'd you do that?" Roy breathed.

"I typed in 'red herring,'" Snake said, pulling the safe door open. Inside was not a gun, but rather a piece of paper. He pulled it out, hoping to find the paper full of explanatory writing, explaining how Ghirahim had been allowed to break through, why the stadium was on fire, and who had told Ghirahim how to open and manipulate the warps…But instead of any of that, there was just a single sentence and a number combination.

_"What is coincidence? 1-12-9-5."_

"What is coincidence…" Link repeated. "…I don't understand. It doesn't make sense. And what does the number combo mean? One twelve nine five—it doesn't sound like anything. It's completely random."

"A coincidence," Roy supplemented. "But what does that mean?"

**xXx**

Oliver led Ganondorf back onto the bus and wrenched it into gear, easing it off of the path and away from the other three brawlers.

"Where are we going?" Ganondorf asked as they trundled along.

"You'll see in a minute," Oliver said. They were in the hills surrounding the stadium now, easing through the forest where their cross country race had been held. "Any minute now…"

And then they were in a valley, and he saw. He reeled back into the aisle, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.

"Is this…?" he whispered.

Oliver grinned smugly. "Yup. Now you know." He fixed green-gold eyes on the demon thief. "What are you going to do about it?"

**xXx**

Ike cracked his eyes open. He stirred a little, moaning at the ache in his head, and managed—with no small effort—to sit up. His muddled brain actually thought that he was in heaven for a minute—the sky was blue and the ground was white—but then things started making a little more sense, and he realized that he was in a room where the roof had fallen through, and he was seeing the sky through the hole.

He glanced around morosely. The floor was absolutely covered in cuccos. They were packed so tightly around him that he felt like any movement would trigger a swarm that would rip him to shreds. He gingerly looked around some more and belatedly noticed a second person lying beside him, still apparently unconscious. A stray cucco pecked at the boy's forehead, nudging blue bangs out of his face.

"Marth?"

The other teenager winced, and then blinked sleepily. He started to wave the bird away, but Ike caught his wrist before his skin could make contact. The bird waddled away, unbothered. There was a bruise on Marth's temple, Ike noticed, and his right hand was a swollen mass of crooked fingers.

The Altean pulled his hand out of Ike's and managed a dry, "How's it hanging?" but didn't seem ready to sit up yet.

Ike gave him a minute, glancing around at the room, looking for a door. He didn't see one. And even if there had been, getting to it would be suicide. He figured their best chance of escape would be through the hole in the ceiling.

There was a rustle of fabric, and then Marth was sitting up next to him, trying to wiggle the fingers of his hand.

"What happened?" Ike asked as Marth gingerly managed to flex his index finger and thumb, but the other three were unresponsive.

"I punched a demon in the face," Marth replied, and then glanced up at Ike. "How about you?"

"I poked a chicken."

Both of them looked at each other for a minute, and then burst out laughing.

**XXX**

**Ike joined Marth in the Hall of Fail.**

**Ghirahim's being annoying, as per the usual, Link took Marth's place as Mr. Cocky-Chatterbox and became horribly OOC, and Ike and Marth are having a moment in the sea of cuccoos. What else is new? *shot***

**Soo…yup. Not a ton to say here that wouldn't give away the plot (wait, there's a plot?). Depending on how many people figure out the 1-12-9-5 code and what that means will determine the content of the next chapter, so guess away! Conspiracy theories are welcome, because there was just so much "wtfudge" in this chapter that I'm betting some of you have some reeeally funny/cool ideas. XD**

**Oliver's password was originally—in fact—Valentinus. (His "middle" name) Whether or not he was aware that it had been changed to Redherring (thanks to the lovely person who gave me that idea) is anybody's guess. ;)**

**PMs and stuff will be answered as soon as I have bit of breathing room. ._.**

***collapses***

**Please review!**


	63. Chapter 63: Finale pt 3

**Remember how I said this would be done by August? Yeah, that was a filthy lie. XD Turns out I'm going on vacation (again) next week, so this will probably drag on into August a wee bit. Good for you guys, bad for me. X3 It's all good. **

**Thanks to _Maplesong_; All will start to make sense here. ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; Coincidence? I THINK NOT. ~ Thanks to _Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye_; Dang. XD It took me about three months to beat Kid Icarus. What intensity did you do it on? ~ Thanks to _Guest_; Oh the suspense! ~ Thanks to _neuron6_; Not at this specific moment in time, but it's been thrown into the melting pot of ideas I siphon from in the events of writer's block. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _seqka711_; O^o I LOVE YOU. EPIC plot bunny of justice. Thank you so much! If I could hug you I would. ~ Thanks to _Brightcrest_; Because it's Team Rocket and I love them. =3= ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg95_; YUS. XD *gladly accepts Whail Badge* ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; Then my work here is done. (please, not the fangirls…) ~ Thanks to _Rizzo-P_; hyper is all good here. ~ Thanks to _Ray-Kat-Hollows_; XD Glad you were amused. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; No, don't stop insisting. XD I reeeeally kind of want to have Oliver own a creepy Marth picture now… ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; XD Yay! First one to get it. Well…you'll have to wait and see about Ollie. ~ Thanks to _Draconis Kitten Sweetie_; Don't poke the chickens. It'll be the death of you. XD ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Cuccoos, man. ~ Thanks to _FullmetalWizard1995_; Not a date. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIlI_; You REEEEALLY need to play SS. *le gasp* So many coincidences! ~ Thanks to _CEObrainz_; Thank you so much. ^_^ I'll keep doing my best! ~ Thanks to _Lost Triforce_; Hey, you're right. XD (too easy!) ~ Thanks to _STKB_; Dun dun daaaaaaaaah! Showdowns FTW. ~ And thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr_; I am writing a book, actually. *strokes imaginary beard* Ohoho~**

**Apparently the cuccos were a success. Funny side effect of updating frequently: I don't have as many reviews to answer to. This only took me five minutes. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. I had a meltdown with this chapter about halfway through though, so I apologize for the lameness and Ganon's intense OOC-ish-ness…Hopefully the beginning makes up for it. AND at least now I know where the story's going! XD Thank you lovely reviewers for giving me ideas. **

**With that please read, enjoy, and review!**

**XXX**

**Chapter 63: Finale: Part 3**

"Bit more," Marth said slowly, swaying on Ike's shoulders as he scrabbled for a one-handed grip on the roof through the hole in the ceiling.

"Don't fall," Ike warned, glancing around at the carpet of chickens surrounding him.

"Hah," Marth chuckled breathlessly, using Ike's shoulders like a springboard to launch himself the final inch that he couldn't reach. He got the majority of his torso over the lip, and swung his legs up easily, apparently not too burdened by his disabled hand. He spun around, offering his usable hand down to Ike.

"You sure you can lift me?" Ike asked dubiously.

Marth scoffed, and then pulled a face. "Don't just fling yourself at me—try to swing it so I'm not taking all of your weight."

"Where do you want me to be?" Ike asked, trying to figure out how to 'swing it' so as not to tug Marth back down into the room with him.

"Can you jump so that when you grab my hand here…" The Altean wiggled his fingers. "…You're at an angle? Then I can use your momentum to pull you up."

Ike took a step back, thinking to himself that they never had to choreograph their jumps like this when they were brawling. It just happened. Then again, failing the jump in the stadium would just end in laughter and the occasional bruise. Here it would likely end with shredded limbs and possibly a head injury or two, depending how they landed.

But apparently choreographing had its benefits, because the jump was perfect. Marth simply redirected his momentum with a strong yank, and Ike rolled onto the roof next to him as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

"Heck yes," Marth crowed as he climbed to his feet, wind tangling his hair. He belatedly glanced at the rooftop of the stadium, realizing that he had never been up there before. "Um…Ike?"

"Yeah?"

Marth had crouched down to inspect the shiny metal, picking at something on the surface. "This doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't make sense?" Ike asked stupidly.

"The stadium was on _fire_, Ike," Marth explained impatiently. "So why is the metal up here so shiny? Shouldn't it be black like everything else? The metal on the bottom was."

"Maybe the fire didn't spread up here." Ike shrugged.

"No, because it definitely got up to the ceiling beams."

"Maybe it just didn't burn all the way through."

"Why not?" Marth questioned.

Now Ike felt like he was the one lecturing. "Because metal doesn't burn, idiot."

"But it does change color," Marth argued, turning on his heel to give Ike a withering look, only to see a beam of light originating from somewhere on the ground heading straight for them. "IKE MOVE!"

With a shriek reminiscent of a heat-tracking missile, the beam slammed into the roof, tearing through the metal and sending the whole stadium lurching sideways. Marth—the lighter—flew into Ike, and the two of them were pitched sideways by the blast, skidding across the now slanting rooftop and plummeting off into empty space.

**x-Several Minutes Previously-x**

"I seriously think that's Team Rocket," Quincy said affirmably, pointing at the two figures guarding the warp. "But that's stupid. Why would Ghirahim bring along the least evil bad guys in the whole Pokemon franchise after N?"

"That's the thing," said a voice behind him. "He didn't."

Quincy was tackled to the side by Zelda just as a huge beam of light went zinging over his head. He scrambled to his feet to see Zelda already standing up, facing off against a sturdy-looking man in a black suit, a cat pokemon at his side.

"I got him," she called. "You take care of them." She pointed a finger over at Team Rocket, who had seen the initial blast and were now running.

"'Kay," Quincy said meekly, snapping his fingers to call Pikachu to his heels.

The man and woman skidded to a halt, the woman tripping a little in her high-heeled boots, and then straightened.

"Prepare for trouble!" she shouted, jabbing a finger in Quincy's direction.

"And make it—_hey!_" the man started, only to yelp and fall backwards as Pikachu launched itself at his face.

The woman—Quincy was fairly sure her name was Jesse—scowled and threw a pokeball into an air, releasing a snake pokemon that proceeded to curl itself around Pikachu's abdomen, pulling it off of the man: James.

Quincy fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a second pokemon of his own, throwing it at a precise angle so that it would release his Swellow before bouncing back into his hand.

"I thought Stoelhart told you to get rid of that!" Zelda shouted from where she was trying to get around the darker man's pokemon to actually get at him without much success.

"Yeah yeah yeah," Quincy shrugged. "Not your problem."

The purple-haired man—James—managed to throw his own pokeball despite nursing a claw wound to the cheek. With the two-on-one fight suddenly turning into a fair one, Quincy started giving specific commands to both of his pokemon at once, shouting at Pikachu to dodge so that the Swellow could swoop in for an attack. With the exception of his initial attack, he observed typical poke-fight formalities, staying away from the two trainers until their pokemon were out of the equation.

"Who is that?" he asked Team Rocket in-between commands, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to point at the man dueling Zelda.

"Where are you from, kid?" James chuckled. "Everybody knows who that is."

"I'm from Hoenn and this is North America," Quincy said. "Team Rocket doesn't have as strong a syndicate back home and doesn't have one here at all."

Jesse tossed her hair. "That's only the head-honcho of Team Rocket itself: Giovanni. You must've been living under a rock, kid."

"Oh," Quincy said. "Never heard of him."

"Never heard of him?" the other two burst out comically.

Quincy was shaking his head resignedly when he heard the man Giovanni shout "Hyper-beam" to his Persian. He had just enough time to think _'that's not good'_ before he registered Zelda flying past him with a scream and whirled around, realizing that he would be the next target.

"Pikachu here!" he shouted, hoping to get at least one shot in before he was toast. He hadn't realized that Persians could even learn that move. "Go, come on!"

Pikachu charged forward, but the beam was already building up within the Persian's core—it was too late to stop. With a squeal, Pikachu flung itself at the Persian's head just as the attack was loosed.

Quincy screamed and ducked to the ground, holding his hat to his head and praying that when he was hit he'd go flying into something soft, preferably Jesse, but the beam just soared over his head and tore into the roof of the stadium. He looked up at the sound of metal creaking and saw that the Persian's head had been rammed upwards by Pikachu's small body, and the electric mouse was now looking back towards him, looking incredibly smug.

"Good job," Quincy told it hoarsely, watching the stadium rock above his head and trying not to think about what would have happened if the beam had hit him.

**xXx**

Link, Roy, and Snake were trying to catch up to the stadium group when the hyper-beam blast hit, and were all subsequently flung down the hallway as gravity momentarily changed directions in relation to the walls and floor. They tumbled down the corridor and were finally stopped by a blockage of fallen beams. Link howled as he bashed his shin, and Roy yelled "EPIPHANY!" from his sprawled position on the ground, head ringing from where it had just made hard contact with fire-blackened metal.

"Did you mean an actual epiphany?" Snake asked dully, shaking ash from his hair. "Or is that just what the kids are shouting nowadays?"

"Actual epiphany," Roy said, rubbing the back of his head. "You know those numbers? I think it's a message—an answer to the question. Look, they're all under 26. They're letters."

"Okay, so we've got 1-12-9-5," Link said thoughtfully. "So that's A...um…"

"L-I-E," Snake completed impatiently.

"I was getting there," Link snapped. "That's not an answer. It's…a name. Allie."

"Not Allie," Snake sighed, wondering how this boy had managed to live as long as he had. "A _lie._"

"What is coincidence?" Roy whispered. "Answer: a lie."

"But what does that mean?"

"There have been a ton of coincidences lately," Snake said coolly. "Stoelhart and his little girlfriend have a bundle all on their own. And then there's the timing of the warp and the fire in the stadium, and somebody conveniently explaining to Ghirahim how to open the warps to other places…"

"So…according to the paper in Stoelhart's safe," Link concluded softly. "None of that was a coincidence. But if it wasn't a coincidence…what was it?"

**xXx**

Oliver and a stunned Ganondorf were driving back to the stadium in the bus and were just about to park when two large objects decided to drop on the windshield. Oliver automatically wrenched the wheel to the side, which probably saved Ike and Marth's life as the windshield flexed but didn't break—slowing down their impact time just enough that they didn't spatter against the reinforced glass like two blue-haired bugs. Instead, they merely thwacked against it and crumpled onto the grass.

"_STOP FALLING ON MY CARS!_" Oliver bellowed at them as he stormed out of the bus, hair face flushed, his voice taking on an almost parental—albeit furious—tone as he crouched down to check Ike's vitals. Ganondorf stumbled out after him, still too stunned for words.

"How—in the name everything good and safe in the world—did you _do_ that?" Oliver raged as he pressed two fingers to Marth's neck, tracing their arc with his eyes down from the roof of the still-rumbling stadium to where they now lay on the ground, Ike moaning softly and Marth curled into the fetal position, clutching his hand. "I swear, Marth, you manage to get into trouble even_ I_ didn't think possible. You completely ignored what I said and ran in there _all by yourself!_ You _idiot!_"

"Could you possibly yell at me later?" Marth whined in a pained voice. "And maybe get me some ice or something? I screwed up my hand."

Oliver pulled back and said in a gentler voice. "Your hand?"

"Ghirahim wrecked it," Marth said, his shoulders tense with pain as he held it out towards Stoelhart, who hissed in a sympathetic breath. "And then I landed on it funny when we fell."

Oliver nodded, and then told Ganondorf to fetch the first aid kit from the bus. "Can you move any of your fingers?"

Marth tried, but by that point his whole hand was swollen to the point where any movement made him gasp and blink quickly and shake his head.

"Could you hold on for a second, Ike?" Oliver asked as Ganondorf came back out with the little white tin.

Ike was already starting to sit up and muttered that he was alright.

"There isn't much we can do about this at the moment," Oliver told Marth. "I'm going to try and splint the three broken fingers together, okay? It'll hurt for a minute, but then it should feel better. I'm going to tape some ice packs to your hand too to try and get the swelling under control. We'll take you to a hospital or something when this is all sorted out, okay?"

"Can I help at all?" Ike asked helplessly, squatting down next to Marth.

"Go away, Ike," Marth said shakily.

"Yeah, you can help Ganondorf make sure that everything on the bus is okay," Oliver said, equally dismissive. "It's alright; we'll just be a few minutes."

With a shrug, Ike ambled off, pinwheeling his arms to try and minimize the swelling in his shoulder, which had hit the windshield hardest.

"So what's in the bus that we need to check?" he asked as coolly as he could. "And why are you being so helpful?"

"Honestly?" Ganondorf smirked, reaching out to open the back door.

"Yeah, honestly."

"Because nobody messes with me," the demon thief growled. "If somebody tries to screw me around, they need to be dealt with."

"Who's been screwing around?" Ike asked, helping to pull the heavy door open. The angle was awkward, but between the two of them, they managed. "With you, I mean? Nobody messes with you."

"No," Ganondorf agreed. "Nobody does. Especially not after this." And then he stepped aside to let Ike see what was in the back of the bus.

"What's this?" Marth asked, appearing around the side of the bus, his right arm bound up in a makeshift sling made out of Oliver's jacket, his hand a mass of bandages. He glanced inside the bus, and then turned to Ganondorf, raising an eyebrow. "Dude, what the heck? Where did you get this? Sonic said that the weapons locker was empty. How did you get all of our stuff?"

"You've been misled," Ganondorf said darkly. "But no more."

Oliver came walking through the other way, appearing over the various bags of weapons lining the floor to look down at Ike and Ganondorf. Marth hovered uselessly to the side and still looked rather unhappy with himself.

"Be especially careful with this one when we move it," the psychiatrist warned as he pointed to a large, opaque bag filled with numerous round objects. "It's the ace in the hole."

Ganondorf grinned, and Ike and Marth both suddenly felt extremely nervous.

**xXx**

"Hey," Samus said as Link and company finally caught up with the main group, who were pounding helplessly against one of the barricades shutting off the stadium from the rest of the complex.

"Where'd you go?" Nana demanded of Roy, jabbing a sooty finger into his shirt.

"We figured out the code," Roy said a little helplessly. "But it basically tells us squat and doesn't tell us anything about where Ike and Marth are."

"Why is it always them?" Sheik grumbled to herself and kicked the wall in her frustration, gouging out a large chunk of drywall.

"They'll be fine," Samus said dismissively, pulling her hair back to redo her ponytail, tying back the wisps that had escaped her rubber band. "They'll probably appear out of nowhere with armful of weapons and some glorious escape story."

"Hey!" Pit shouted from where he had been flitting up near what was left of the ceiling. "I think I found a way in!"

"Great, see if you can shimmy through," Captain Falcon called up to him. "And let us know what's on the other side."

Pit nodded, and squeezed through the small opening. Kirby floated up after him for backup.

"So what did the numbers mean?" Sheik asked curiously.

"They were an answer to the question," Link replied. "By the way, have you guys heard from Zelda or Quincy?"

"Nope—nothing since they went back outside."

"Probably a good thing." Link nodded to himself.

Pit came squeezing out through the gap he had found, more caked with dust and ash than before, and hopped down to the ground. "The blast doors are down," he sighed. "I can't get them to open without a password or a remote. And it's the weirdest thing: I found a camera." He held up a tiny little fisheye lens. "Did we always have cameras here?"

Snake glanced down at the slip of paper in his pocket. "…How many characters does the password need?"

**xXx**

"I still don't get it," Marth said, carefully maneuvering himself up into the bus so that he could peer inside one of the bags. "Where did you get all of this?"

Ganondorf pulled a face. "You fell off the roof, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Notice anything strange?"

"Yeah…?" Ganondorf raised a bushy eyebrow, and Marth hesitantly elaborated: "It wasn't burnt. It wasn't even warm."

"And what does that make you wonder?"

"…Whether or not the stadium was ever really on fire at all. But we know it was," Marth said stubbornly. "Liam called Stoelhart and said so."

"Liam never called me," Oliver said softly behind them.

Marth and Ike blinked in unison.

"And if you'd looked carefully at the stadium, you would have noticed some key differences. The playing area, for example, is sealed off. The weapons locker is empty. The floor by my office was blown away, as was the floor by your residential hallways, and the walls near there were knocked down as well to make sure that you can't get through. There are cameras everywhere. Reinforced walls that you used to be able to chuck a sword at without damaging are now like rice paper, and despite the fact that the whole place is apparently blown to kingdom come, it's still managing to stay airborne. And the staffers are nowhere to be found, no matter how hard you look. What does all of this tell you?"

Ike looked like he was on the verge of a revelation, but Marth reached it first and smacked his forehead with his good hand. He muttered a string of profanities as Ike lost his train of thought and had to ask, "I don't know. What?"

"It's a scam," Marth said darkly. "The whole thing, isn't it? That stadium up there isn't the real one—it's just a set."

**xXx**

"You sure this'll work?" Samus asked Snake skeptically as she looked over the wild tangle of wires that he had salvaged from some of the remaining electric circuitry.

"It'll work," he assured her, setting the bundle down in front of the wreckage that was blocking their way to the blast doors and commanding everybody to get back. He touched two wires together and skipped backwards quickly, shooing everybody around a corner in the hallway back while the metal heated up.

Something sparked, and with a massive explosion the majority of the debris was blasted outward, several large chunks embedding themselves in the wall where the brawlers had just been standing.

"Dang," Roy commented brightly as Snake stuck his head back out to check that the coast was clear. "And I thought _I _was a pyro."

Link was already crowding over Snake's shoulder, watching him type in the 1-12-9-5 number combo into the keypad.

Snake pressed enter. Nothing happened.

"Well…fudge. Now what?"

**xXx**

"So what's the deal?" Marth sneered at Oliver. "You were in on this thing the whole time and you didn't say anything? You lied to my face, made us all come running here in the middle of the night, and now my hand is busted and _now_ you finally think that you ought to say something?"

"This was the opportune moment, yes. I had to play along for a bit but this was not my idea," Oliver said coolly. "There was no way around it—Nintendo was going to open the warp no matter what I did. It was either get officially involved so I was jacked in to what was happening, or be shuttled off and hidden someplace safe while you guys dealt with this on your own."

"So, if that stadium is a fake," Ike said slowly, still trying to wrap his head around the idea. "Then where's the real one?"

"It's parked in a valley a few miles from here," Oliver said. "We made sure that Ghirahim and the others can't see it at all from the stadium, so it should be perfectly safe. The staffers are holed up there, and so were your weapons, until I took Ganondorf over to help me move them back here."

Ike shook his head sadly. "The guys are going to string you up when they find out about this."

"I'm not the one responsible."

"But you are the one who lied to us," Marth growled. "Was Eve in on this too?"

"Sort of," Oliver said. "She was going to help me look for a way to sabotage the operation before it went online, but by the time we got back on civil terms with one another and actually figured out a plan it was too late to do anything." He looked down at Marth sadly. "I_ did_ try."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Marth grumbled, wincing as he shifted his arm in the sling. "So what about those cameras you mentioned? They've been filming us? Where's the footage being broadcasted to?"

"There isn't a live broadcast, but I can't tell you where the film is being held."

"Who cares?" Ganondorf said briskly. "If Nintendo wants to film their entire plan going south, let them."

"But what was their plan?" Ike asked. "And how're we going to bust it?"

"Tryouts," Oliver said softly. "Their plan was to use this as a sort of tryout for Smash Bros four. See whether or not any of you have lost your touch and need to be replaced, and to screen some potential people to replace you with."

"As if. It'll be a dark day indeed when the sarcastic little lord gets replaced by an even more sarcastic little lord," Ganondorf grinned maliciously. "Especially if the new boy actually poses a threat to me." Marth gave him the bird with his free hand.

"Don't tempt me into breaking that as well," Ganondorf chucked as he reached his hand into the sack that Oliver had told him to be careful with and picked up one of the spherical objects in the sack he was holding. It glowed in his hands, and as he flexed his fingers, tiny spider-web cracks spread across the surface. "But you don't have to worry, little heroes. No cocky little demon is going to beat me on my worst day."

"Oh, this is going to be good," Ike said softly. Marth just groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Hey," he snapped to Oliver, who gave him such a disarming look that his voice was much subdued as he continued, "If the stadium up there isn't the real one, then what's inside the arena? Why is it sealed off?"

"I'm sure you guys will eventually figure out how to get in there. I gave you the password," Oliver said as he twisted the key in the ignition, pulling the bus back into gear.

**xXx**

"This probably won't work, but…" Pit said thoughtfully, reaching over Snake to type in 'valentinUS' and rap the enter key.

The blast door creaked, and then started to rise with a loud, pneumatic hiss. Everybody leaned forward hopefully, expecting to see the burnt remnants of the arena crowded with staffers.

But instead, there was…nothing.

"…I don't get it," Roy announced, stepping inside and holding a hand in front of his face, watching it disappear before his eyes, invisible in the impenetrable darkness of the room. "What is this?"

"Some sort of trick?" Samus theorized, testing the ground with her foot. "Seems real enough, but I wouldn't go running in," she said as she caught the back of Roy's shirt. "There might be holes."

Roy eeped and froze. In the following silence, they became aware of a dull clucking behind them, and turned just in time to see a lone cucco strut around the corner, pecking at the wreckage from Snake's makeshift bomb. A second one quickly followed it, and then a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth...

"In we go," Link said hurriedly, leaping across the threshold and into the darkness.

**xXx**

The bus trundled over the lip of the hill, and Ganondorf leaned out to shout at the three baddies he had left playing cards to get in. They rammed themselves through the door, and Ike pointed to a series of blasts emanating from the area by the warp and suggested that they start there.

"But what's in the stadium?" Marth tried again as Oliver wrenched the steering wheel around, cursing at the tires for losing their purchase on the grass.

"It's just a big stage, really. Some sort of dark, holographic, new age-y thing that the guys at Nintendo thought would be very dramatic," Oliver said dismissively, pulling the bus to a stop as close to the fight as he dared. "Why don't you go see if you can break that up, Ike?"

Ike grinned and hefted his sword and a ball from two separate bags, crushing the ball in-between his hands and leaping out of the door just as the effects took hold. He ran off towards the brawl, leaving a light trail behind him. Within a few seconds there was a burst of flame, the fighting had stopped.

"What's on the stage?" Marth demanded.

"Does it really matter? You'll probably have to sit out anyway, because of your hand."

Marth scowled. "When have I _ever_ sat out of something as big as this?" he asked rhetorically. "I know Nintendo, and I know they love glorious finales and big bosses, so don't try and tell me that it's not a big deal. Who's in there that we're going to have to fight?"

Oliver sighed.

"Did you ever hear of something called the Subspace Emissary?"

**XXX**

**Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuun! ._. lame twist is lame, yet unpredictable.**

**Grah: Marth and Ollie cannot be left alone for any period of time together because Ollie turns Marth into a human-angst machine. I don't know why that happens, it just does and I can't stop it. I need to separate them. =_= But how…? (maybeIshouldkilloneofthemoff…)**

**So, remember that contest that _MessengerOfDreams, Araceli L, Kattheamazing_ and I did a year ago? XD Guess what…? We're working on the announcement chapter for the winners right now, so keep your eyes open for that. XD Ten months late~ Woo-hoo! **

**Right. That's that. Not a lot to say that isn't obvious. I fail at plots. XD Next chapter will be better, I swear. At least now the guys have their swords back…They also have a sack full of smashballs. Ghirahim doesn't stand a chance, does he?**

**Please review! **


	64. Chapter 64: Finale pt 4

**Hey, if you want to see something hysterical, look up "I'm fabulous Ghirahim" on youtube. Wow, way less reviewers this time. This is what happens when I update fast, I guess. XD**

**Thanks to _seqka711_; Aw, don't wallow. A bunch of people didn't get it. I still owe you for a massive plot-bunny of happiness. ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; Nobody did. Bwahahahaha. ~ Thanks to _Brightcrest_; Funnily enough, it doesn't happen quite like that. XD ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; DO YOU? Killing people off is fun. ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIlI_; THANK you for getting my rude joke. You were the only one who did. XD Ghirahim's a creep. ~ Thanks to _Rizzo-P_; Perhaps…Those are all glorious ideas and are being taken under consideration. ~ Thanks to _Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye_; Dang I feel like a loser. *played the entire game on intensity 3.5 and failed utterly* ~ Thanks to _NiRvAnAaDvAnCiNg_; That he is. But he's the sort of guy who you just point and laugh at and feel no sympathy for whatsoever, so it's all good. ~ Thanks to _Caxe_; This sounds like a challenge for me to come up with a fifth option. XD ~ Thanks to _Guest_; Whoa—seriously? *_* Thank you for sharing this awesome fact with me. It made my day. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; YAY! Your sister rocks. XD I wish mine were that epic. I shall have to see what I can do to satisfy your sadism streak. It won't be 'that,' but…blood will be spilled. =3= ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Don't worry, I'm just psyching everybody else out. Or maybe I'm psyching you out by telling you I'm psyching everybody else out. PSYCEPTION! ~ Thanks to another _Guest_; Purrrrhaps… ~ Thanks to _SKTB_; They're going in there to escape the cuccos. Any boss is preferable to the cuccos in Link's mind. ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; Speedy updates FTW. ~ And thanks to _catsrae_; Well, now you know. N'aw…You just justified all of my Marth-Parental!Ollie feels. XD Thank you so much. **

**Again, not much to say except that I reeeally want to go see the new Batman movie. =_= Unrelated comment is unrelated. PMs and stuff will be dealt with eventually-sorry about the continued delay there.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, including the lame rolling ball booby trap that belongs to Indiana Jones that FMA totally stole. I also fail at writing the Subspace Emissary and totally made it into something it isn't because I wanted to write about neon colors. So there. Hope that isn't going to make anybody sad—I'm still throwing in lots of bosses, so hopefully you're happy…?**

**Shorter chapter today. But HEY. I updated THREE DAYS AGO (my fastest update in, like, six months lol). I think you guys can deal. Please read, enjoy, and review!**

**XXX**

**Chapter 64: Finale: Part 4**

Quincy didn't even have time to yell before it was all over. Giovanni was suddenly lying on the ground, out for the count, and Team Rocket were soaring up into the sky to crash onto the roof of the stadium. The pokemon trainer turned around slowly, bracing for another attack, directed at him this time, and stopped dead.

"…Ike? Dude, where'd you go?"

Ike was already crouching down next to Zelda, helping her stand back up, the light from his final smash radiating off of him like some weird sort of halo. "It's sort of a long story."

"The crux of which," Marth said as he loped out of the bus. "Is that the stadium is a fake and our resident psychiatrist was once again trying to play both sides."

"Once again?" Quincy said just as Zelda blurted, "Fake?"

"He's trying to be on our side and Nintendo's at the same time," Marth said dismissively to the pokemon trainer.

"They're _supposed_ to be the same," Oliver inserted from the bus.

Marth ignored him. "Yes, Zelda, a fake. That's why it's still in reasonably good condition despite being blasted to heck and back and why we can't find the staffers. It's all okay, they're all okay, we're all okay, and our current mission is to kick some butt. You down for that?"

"Okay, but how?" Zelda said, being remarkably rational about this new information, combing her hair back behind her ear and glancing down. "Oh my gosh, Marth—what happened to your hand?"

The Altean wiggled his thumb—the only finger on his right hand he could move—a little and shrugged. "Extremely long story. I'm fine though. Let's get on the bus, and we'll talk from there, okay?"

"What are you planning to do about him?" Quincy asked, nudging Giovanni with his tennis shoe.

"Put him back through the warp, I guess," Ike shrugged. "What else are we going to do?" With a grunt, he slung the man over his shoulder and started shuffling his way towards the blue disk in the grass nearby.

"Quince, want to run on ahead and get it all set up so I can dump him?"

Zelda glanced up at the stadium roof. "So…should we get Team Rocket down from there while we're here?"

Marth craned his neck and grinned. "Nah."

"So what are we doing from here?"

"We're storming the castle," Marth quipped as they climbed back on the bus. Quincy, Pikachu and Ike came back a few minutes later, only to have Oliver instruct them on how to manually lock the warp so that Giovanni couldn't come back through and have to run back again.

When they finally got back, Marth explained their plan: bust into the stadium loaded up with weapons and smash balls, force the baddies into the Subspace Emissary, and proceed to kick everybody's butt so fast that Nintendo would never think twice about any of them ever again.

"Fight dirty," he enthused. "We need to do this fast and hard. You guys…" He gestured towards the baddies in the back, who were drooling over the sack of smash balls. "…Have free reign to maim and bang up whatever other bad guy you see fit."

Oliver rolled his eyes as he pulled the bus up next to the doors and popped the back of the bus open so they could unload all of the weapons. Everybody loaded up on whatever they could carry, Marth practicing swinging Falchion with his left hand and hacking at the burnt grass around him.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Quincy bobbled up at his side, armed with about twenty-five different pokeballs, all strung artillery-belt-style across his chest, and a baseball bat. "Want a pokemon for your troubles?"

"No thanks," Marth sighed. "I'll be fine."

"Maybe you want a beam sword instead?" Ike asked, trying to be helpful. "They're lighter."

"It's not that it's heavy, I'm just not as coordinated," Marth sniped. "Besides, the shrink is still determined to keep me out of the way…"

"Heck yes," Oliver nodded triumphantly from where he was sorting out the leftover items and weapons into smaller sacks that could be carried inside.

"_Not _that I'm going to listen to him," Marth said softly. "But if it makes him think I'll stay behind, then so be it."

Ganondorf and the others looked loaded for bear, practically covered with special items and weaponry. Oliver kept having to tell them to leave stuff for everybody else, although he was the one who was constantly asking if Ganondorf could manage to carry another few bombs with him. The demon thief never refused.

Within a few minutes, Oliver had the massive busload of stuff separated into nine separate bags, including the large one with the smash balls, which he gave to Ike to carry, apparently not trusting Ganondorf _that_ much.

Marth frowned when he noticed that he was handed the lightest, and switched with Zelda when he made sure that Stoelhart was looking. There was a bit of shuffling as Wario and Dedede tried to figure out how to carry their bags without setting of any of the incendiary devices they had stuffed in their pockets, but eventually everybody was ready to move.

"_Ad astra per alia porci,_" Oliver commented to himself as they started to enter the fake stadium, glancing behind him at Ganondorf, who was already arguing with Marth. "…Literally."

**xXx**

"Of course the door would close behind us," Sheik grumbled, feeling her way along the side of the wall. Behind her, Lucario and Falco agreed anxiously. Something flashed on the ground, and they all reared back in unison.

"What was that?" Roy asked nervously, his voice floating over from a few yards away. They were fanned out in a giant circle, slowly spreading away from the now-locked door—which had eased shut as soon as they were all through and wouldn't open no matter how hard they kicked it—checking the floor out.

"Well, given that we haven't blown up," Sheik said airily. "I shall conclude that I don't have any idea."

"It looked sort of like a reflection," Samus observed, although it was difficult to pinpoint exactly where her smooth voice was coming from. "But that seems weird, given the fact that there's no light."

There was a flash a ways away from them, but this was obviously caused by Mario conjuring a fireball. While the light didn't do anything to help Sheik's end of the room, they could all see the Italian plumber's silhouette squat down to examine the ground.

"Yeah," he shouted over to them. "The floor looks like it's reflective."

"I wonder if you hit a pressure plate or something that glowed when you touched it?" Captain Falcon guessed.

"So…we could be about to be squashed by a giant rolling ball or something?" Link said dryly. "Great. Exactly what we need."

"I don't think it's a booby trap," Sheik said slowly. "But just in case, move back from me. I'm going to try something."

"Wait, what are you—" Link, Roy and a few others all started in unison, actually lunging towards her instead of moving away, but it was too late to stop her from ramming her foot into the floor.

An explosion of milky neon colors radiated out from the point of contact, spreading across the floor and walls in ripples, revealing the basic shape of the immediate area around her like sonar.

"Like I thought," she said triumphantly. She took another step, stomping down hard from the floor, and the phenomenon repeated itself: circular light trails blossoming from her heel and spreading across the floor, crawling up the wall. "This whole room is a giant pressure pad. We'll be able to see anything moving."

There was sort of a unanimous '_Ooh_' as everybody tried it out for themselves, and then a startled 'Aah!' from Roy. Everybody glanced over there to see the lights playing off of a large block that was just a few inches from where he had been standing, rendered completely invisible until now.

"Well," he said shakily as he clomped his way around the side of it. "This makes things a bit easier, I guess."

"Indeed it does."

**xXx**

"They went inside," Oliver confirmed, gesturing at the closed door.

"How do you know this?" Ike queried innocently, shuffling his feet awkwardly and trying not to step on anything feathery, which was easier said than done considering that the entire hallway was carpeted with cuccos.

The psychiatrist pointed over his shoulder at the unusual amounts of rubble littering the hallway. "That was barricaded earlier and Ghirahim would've just teleported though. Besides, the brawlers were the only ones besides me who knew the password."

"Besides you and Nintendo, you mean," Ganondorf assumed.

"Of course," Oliver replied a bit too quickly. "But anyway, at least some of the brawlers are in there. How many evildoers do you think there are at the moment?"

"Not counting the cuccos?"

"Not counting the cuccos."

"Four," Ike said. "Four that I've seen, anyway. We've got Team Rocket on the roof, and then Ghirahim and the Black Knight are still out there somewhere. And I suppose that there could be others, but those are the ones I know of."

"Okay," Oliver sighed, steepling his hands in front of his face. "This is going to be hard, because depending on how long they've been in there, they may've triggered a mini boss already, in which case we want to get the weapons to them as soon as possible. On the other hand, if they've only been in there a few minutes, it makes more sense to devote the majority of our current manpower at least to getting the Black Knight if not Ghirahim into the Emissary as well and if we all go into the Emissary, then the door locks behind us and we can't get back out until we've beaten everything in there and who knows how long that'll take."

"Wait, why do we want them in there?" Marth asked. "Won't Ghirahim just teleport back out again?"

"I think he'll engage us if he has the chance," Oliver said determinedly. "And once the Black Knight is in he's stuck just like everybody else."

"So what's all in there?" Quincy asked.

"Bits of everything. Um…here, how about you four go on in." He pointed at Quincy, Zelda, Ike, and Ganondorf. "You've got the smash balls and the majority of the weapons, so find the other brawlers and see if you can pass them out—actually, check that."

Marth nodded approvingly. "Right," he said, knowing what Oliver was thinking of. "We don't know for sure that all of the brawlers are in there, so we should leave some weapons out here in case it's only a few who are inside. So why don't Ganon and Wario replace Ike? Then Zelda and Quincy can take Ike's bag and we can leave another bag out here in case we find the others, but we'll still have enough ammunition on the inside to tackle whatever's there."

"Sounds like a plan," Ike grinned, dropping off his bag of smash balls to heft his sword over his shoulder. "Let's move."

**xXx**

"Did you guys hear that?" Samus asked. The entire group paused, the ripples of their footsteps slowly dissipating into nothingness, plunging the room into darkness again. There was a silence, and suddenly a ring of pink blossomed somewhere behind them. Everybody whirled around, creating a myriad of overlapping colors that made it impossible to tell where each was originating from. When everybody had settled again, there was nothing to see again.

"I swear I heard something," Samus grumbled, feeling the invisible stares of everybody else on her. There was a clang, and a circle of orange pinged off of the ceiling. Everybody looked up in unison and just caught sight of a dark shape swooping across, briefly blocking out the color.

"Told you," Samus had time to say smugly before whatever the thing was swooped down on the group with a bird-like shriek. There wasn't a whole lot anybody could do besides dodge. Lucas and Ness called down some form of psychic thunder, but without an obvious target both attacks missed, and nobody else had a projectile attack that didn't involve weapons.

The doors—a good way behind them at this point—suddenly smashed open, the sliver of light searing across the stage and briefly revealing a skeletal, flying creature.

"Oh my gosh," Samus whispered, feeling her heart skip a beat. "That's _Ridley._"

While she was panicking over the sudden inexplicable appearance of her arch nemesis, the other brawlers were more preoccupied with the four beings that had just spilled through the open doorway, which closed as quickly as it had opened.

"Quince!" Pit burst out happily, dodging the flying space pirate and falling out of the air to land right in front of the pokemon trainer. The flash of light as he landed revealed an arsenal of pokeballs strapped across the teenager's chest. "Dude, where'd you get all of this stuff? I thought the weapons locker was empty."

"…It's a long story," Quincy said. "So who's all here, anyway?"

"Everybody…?"

"Oh. That's not good."

"Um, hello?" Sheik said, stomping on the floor for attention. "Big scary dinosaur-thing at three o'clock. We can be buddy-buddy with one another later. Let's go now."

"With pleasure," said a familiar dark voice, and there was a ring of purple from the area where something heavy struck the ground. Sackcloth was pulled aside, and the dull glow of a whole sack full of smash balls threw Ganondorf's face into harsh shadow. "The dino's going down."

"_Oh._ _Heck._ _Yes,_" Sheik beamed.

**xXx**

"Coast is clear," Ike announced, creeping his way around a corner. "No sign of anybody, villain or otherwise."

"You know," Marth quipped as he navigated around a pile of jagged metal. "Stoelhart was right about the whole thing being a fake. If this was real, there would've been a door right here." He pointed at a solid wall. "Leading to a utility staircase."

"Mhm," Ike agreed. "You know, I sort of hope that Ghirahim appears before us again, just so we can smack his fabulous face."

"What was that?" a voice asked behind them. Marth whirled around with a snarl, sword already swinging in an arc over his head, preparing to slash at the demon, who had anticipated the move and had positioned himself just outside of Marth's initial range. He grinned sadistically as the blade bit nothing but air, and danced to the side with a giggle as Marth fixed his footwork—reversing his stance to compensate for using his less-dominant hand—and tried again.

"You're right handed, yes?" Ghirahim teased as he ducked under the second slice and grabbed the Altean prince by the shoulder to twist him around, throwing him in-between himself and Ike's sword.

Marth cursed as he nearly stumbled into Ike and wrenched himself to the side, pirouetting out of the way and clearing the path for the latter. Ike sent the majority of his body-weight flying into a two-handed thrust that made Ghirahim teleport backwards a few feet. Marth lunged again, with the same results.

With a frustrated roar, Ike took off in pursuit, Marth hovering a few steps behind him, hoping not to get used as a meat-shield again. It turned out to be a good thing that he was staying behind as he wasn't blind-sided with Ike by Bowser flying into the hallway from a side corridor.

"Here!" Oliver's voice barked, and Marth diverted his attention from Ghirahim for a fraction of a second—just long enough to get slammed backwards by some sort of magical blast. He whacked his head against a pole and saw stars for a minute. When his vision cleared, Ghirahim was no longer in the hallway, and Ike was back on his feet, sprinting down the hallway Bowser had just gotten flung from, sword on his shoulder, hip cocked back to swing at any time.

With a scream, he slammed the blade into the Black Knight, who had been previously occupied with Dedede and Oliver—both stuck in a corner—and hadn't seen him coming.

"Who needs improvement now?" Ike bellowed, hefting Ragnell around for another attack. Oliver ducked out from underneath Dedede's wing and plugged in his 'valentinUS' code into the door at the end of the hallway, digging his heels in and wrenching it open.

"Ike, here!" he shouted, and Ike grabbed a strap of the Black Knight's armor and flung him into the black void, leaping in himself immediately afterward. With a growl, Bowser lurched after him, apparently taking offense to being flung into a wall, and Dedede hopped in as well. Marth made to follow, but was abruptly stopped by Oliver's hand on his chest.

"No you don't," the psychiatrist grinned. "I wasn't kidding about you sitting out."

"…You really suck."

**xXx**

"Well, that didn't take too long," Link said with a grin, placing a triumphant foot on the pterodactyl-like creature that was now sprawled across the black floor and enjoying the final smash buzz. "How're you feeling, Samus?"

"Vindicated," she said breathlessly, retracting her plasma whip and hooking its hilt onto her belt, ready for whatever else decided to cross her path next.

"So, that's one down," Luigi commented. "Who's next?"

A door opened a few hundred yards over, and several people came flying through with a yell.

"Think we should help?" Roy asked hopefully, holding a smash ball in-between his hands as he looked over at Snake hopefully.

Snake already had a rocket launcher positioned on his shoulder. "Yeah, I think so," he said and yanked on the trigger. The rocket ignited and soared across the stadium, nearly hitting the combatants before accidentally impacting against an invisible barrier. The floor rocked, but nothing seemed to break.

"Oops," Snake muttered, lifting the barrel of his bazooka a little higher and trying again. This one hit its target, throwing all of the participants back from one another. There was a unanimous crack as several brawlers cracked into their smash balls, and the group took off en masse to investigate the latest threat.

**xXx**

Marth was slumped on the floor outside the door leading to the Subspace Emissary, sketching rude drawings into the layer of ash and glaring at the back of Oliver's head.

"What about Ghirahim, huh?" he demanded sullenly. "How do you know he's not going to appear right here?"

"He might," Oliver said dismissively, but he didn't seem to really care and was refusing to respond to Marth's glaring, instead keeping a watch on the door, waiting for it to open again, hopefully with the triumphant brawlers on the other side.

After a while, Marth gave up and started writing down insults in Japanese when he had run out of inappropriate symbols.

There was a dull flash from near the door, but Marth barely looked up. Given how Oliver didn't flinch or scream, he assumed it wasn't anything dangerous.

But then he heard a voice sigh melodramatically, "You again," and changed his mind. He lurched around the corner to see Ghirahim sketching a little bow in Oliver's direction, standing in front of the open door leading to the Subspace Emissary. Of all the possible things to say to Oliver, the next phrase that left Ghirahim's mouth was: "Thank you for earlier."

Marth stiffened, feeling like he had been hit with an electric current. "…_What?_"

Oliver looked similarly frozen, but his expression was calm. He held a placating hand out towards Marth without ever taking his eyes off of the demon, who straightened up with a grin.

Ghirahim's smile became even larger, if possible, when he caught sight of Marth. "Oh, you think he's on your side, do you, little right-handed boy? Wouldn't have guessed that."

"What do you mean?" The phrase tumbled out so quickly that it seemed like one large word.

"I, unfortunately, understand little about electronics," Ghirahim said grandly, making flamboyant gestures with his arms as he explained, taking a step closer. "The closest thing to it is the civilization that existed before the current time period I occupy. …Do you really think I would be able to manipulate your dimensional doors all by myself? I told you, a little birdie showed me how it was done."

**xXx**

The fight was over rather quickly, given that it was about thirty against one. The whole area seemed to explode with light for perhaps thirty seconds, what with everything exploding and every other person glowing and the whole floor a mixed mess of colors beneath everybody's feet. Vision was fragmented at best, revealing Mario's hat flying through the air in a series of stop-motion flashes, brief shots of Pit pulling back on his bow again and again, brief glimpses of Sheik's daggers flying through the air that they were rarely visible for more than a frame at a time, searing strobe-light-esque trails of Ike's sword as it sliced through the air, delivering punishing blows that stung even though the armor of the one he was hitting.

And then it was over. Wario and Snake were sitting smugly on the Black Knight, Snake still holding his prized rocket launcher. Ike's grin was massive and it only grew bigger when Sheik flung herself at his chest and when he was able to tell Samus and Link that Marth was fine and was waiting outside with Oliver, waiting for their return.

"Who's next?" Roy shouted out into the darkness with a cackle. "BRING IT ON!"

**xXx **

"Stoelhart…told you?" Marth whispered, feeling his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. "He was the one who told you?" he said miserably, unable to even look at the psychiatrist to confirm whether or not it was true. If he had, he would've noticed Oliver take a small step backwards, sliding his hand behind his back to reach for his belt.

"Told me?" Ghirahim cackled. "He was the one who—"

Three huge _BANG!_s cracked the air in the small hallway, and the demon reeled backwards, tumbling through the opening into the Emissary. Marth spun around to see Oliver standing, hands extended, left hand bracing the right, which was holding a smoking handgun, still pointed at the door. After pausing for a beat, he lowered the gun an inch and walked forward to close the door. He turned back around to see Marth gaping at him. The gun twitched in his hand. "Now Marth…" he started to say, but the Altean was already on his feet.

With a howl, he slammed into the psychiatrist, knocking him to the ground and whacking the gun from his hand and kicking it far out of reach, pinning both of Oliver's hands down with his elbows.

"_WHY!_"

"He's not dead," Oliver said hurriedly, testing the weight restraining his wrists. "A few bullets aren't going to kill him. I just locked him in there so that the others could take care of hi—"

"That's—it isn't—you know what I'm talking about!" Marth stuttered, face flushed. "_Why_ would you tell Ghirahim how to work the warps? You said that this wasn't your idea! _EXPLAIN!_ You _said _you were on _our_ side!"

"I am!" Oliver said, sounding wounded. "Ghirahim was lying, obviously. How could I have told him? I was with you the whole time. We were all in California, weren't we?"

With a dismissive scoff, Marth sat up and shifted to the side. Oliver remained sprawled out on the floor, not so much as twitching a muscle towards the gun.

Marth jerked his chin at the firearm. "Where'd you get that, anyway?"

"I'm…usually carrying," Oliver admitted, pressing a hand to his forehead. "It seemed wise to keep that to myself though."

"How am I supposed to trust you?" Marth burst out furiously. "When you never tell me anything? How can I believe you when it's really just your word against his? I have no reason to believe you, especially when you drop little bombshells like this every other minute. _'Oh, by the way, I helped set up an entire scam that ended with you breaking every bone in your hand, but trust me anyway.'_ _'By the way, I carry a gun in my pants and I never thought to tell you, but I'm not going to hurt you, trust me.' 'By the way, I used to be a secret assassin and now I know all of your deep, dark, emotional secrets, but I swear I won't exploit them, trust me.'_"

Oliver sat up slowly, making sure that every move was deliberate and that nothing was sudden or jerky. He stayed silent.

"_Say something!_" Marth commanded. "Confirm it! Deny it! Just do _something!_"

Oliver green-gold eyes danced to the gun, and then flicked calculatingly back to Marth.

With a muttered curse, Marth dropped his head onto his knees and mumbled. "Just say something, Stoelhart. I've been suckered into stuff before; this definitely wouldn't be the first or even the worst thing I've fallen for, if you're really one of them. But I have to know. You have to tell me." He lifted his head up to look at Oliver. "Were you the one who told Ghirahim how to open the warps?"

Oliver said…

**XXX**

**LE GASP. CLIFFHANGER. OTL. **

**What do you think his answer is? And no matter what it is, can you trust what he's going to say? I know, I know, Oliver wasn't supposed to be important anymore, but the fact is: he's sort of become an integrated part of this fic, and it just feels weird writing it without him. Yes, he's stealing the spotlight again (*cough*WITHMARTH*cough), but…I'm sort of okay with this. **

**I seriously don't get how Ollie and Marth keep getting into all of these awkward scenarios together. X_x It just happens, man. I've given up trying to stop them. **

**I discovered that I'm a complete sadist when it comes to plot twists. XD There's one more big (yet also surprisingly predictable, if you think about it) twist left, but then I *think* I'm done. **

**_Ad astra per alia porci_ means "Aim for the heavens even if your equipment is meager," but literally is: "To the stars on the wings of pigs." ._. It amused me.**

**Please review! (only 5-6 more chapters left, if things go as planned (which we know they never do…*sigh*))**


	65. Chapter 65: Finale pt 5

**I am doing something I've never done before: uploading from a computer besides my own (I'm at my grandparents'). O_o It's sort of scary and I kept getting interrupted by a 8-year-old cousin who wanted me to play pokemon with him.  
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**Thanks to _seqka711_; Why yes, yes it is my glorious plot bunny. And no, Ollie isn't Tabuu. ~ Thanks to _Ray-Kat-Hollows_; I LEFT IT THERE. ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Marth and Ollie "but not like that :\" is exactly how I feel. XD And they stole the spotlight again. ~ Thanks to _Brightcrest_; Aww...I have a cold too. Hope you feel better. ~ Thanks to _JazzHearts_; Except knowing the movie industry, they'd totally miscast Marth. ;_; ~ Thanks to _Candy Thief_; I think I got your other reviews...did I forget to respond to one or something? ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; Yeah, I think Zelda won't make it to SSB4. But if they update to SS!Link, then TP!Link won't make it either, so they can still be happy together. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss Zwillingsmonde_; There's some actual blood in this one. Hope you enjoy. And yes, I am evil. ~ Thanks to _OuranFruitsluvr_;I love me an angsty Marf. ~ Thanks to _ttme123_; ...*tries to think of witty response in Spanish* *fails* ~ Thanks to _Sir StarIlI_; Hope you had fun in Cape Cod! Oh there will be glorious Smarthus...just...not yet... Stuff happened...~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; This is the highest honor you could bestow upon me...Let me know if you ever actually write it. XD ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; Yeah, sorry about the slow[er] update. I'm at my grandma's. ~ Thanks to _Rizzo-P_; It's NYAN CAT! ~ Thanks to _Guest_; Yeah, I heard about the Colorado shootings, but I went anyway...And it was worth it... ~ Thanks to _Shike lover_; ...'Shike' sounds kind of dirty...Is that really the official name? XD ~ Thanks to another _Guest_; They aren't really the touchy feely type. More of the 'wordless support' type. ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; I mainly wrote this chapter to mess with you. ~ Thanks to _The Game fan_; You know I squee every time somebody identifies themselves as a Game fan? XD Get some sleep! ~ And thanks to _Excellion Arbiter_; Thank you so much, I'm glad you're back. :)  
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**Long review section is long.  
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**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, except for Oliver, who will forever hold a special place in my heart. This chapter is loooong... Goshdarn Marth and his angsty emotions that require long descriptions. X_x And Oliver. ALWAYS Oliver. I thought I'd stopped him from getting into long conversations with Marth, but he proved me wrong again. ...So I had to...Therewasnootherway...  
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**xXx  
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**Please read, enjoy, and review.  
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**Chapter 65: Finale: Part 5  
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"Were you the one who told Ghirahim how to open the warps?"

Oliver clasped his hands together in front of his face and sighed. "No. I wasn't."

Marth's eyes flickered to the gun, and then back to Oliver, who forced his shoulders to relax and lay back against the wall pointedly.

"You don't have to believe me," he said softly. "I know you don't trust me. You've always had trust issues, you know."

"Have not," Marth said, but the response was automatic. He stood up slowly and walked over to the gun, picking it up with two fingers like he was scared to hold it.

"That's why you're always the ringleader. You don't trust anybody else to complete your plan. That's why you're afraid to commit to a relationship: because the idea of trusting a woman with your heart frightens you."

"I'm not going to commit because I'm seventeen," Marth snapped, walking over to a broken window to glare down at the ground, far away. "And because it could never work out in any sort of permanent sense."

"It's also why you and I don't get along. And why you're so quick to doubt me."

"You're a lousy psychiatrist," Marth said dully, throwing the gun out of the open window.

"I could have another weapon," Oliver replied, nodding at the broken glass.

"I'm trusting that you don't. And I just don't like guns."

Oliver blinked, startled, and then sighed again. "I have no way of defending myself now, thanks a lot."

Marth grinned. "'I don't trust you.' Your words, not mine. And besides, given your previous occupation, I'm sure you can handle it."

Oliver laughed. "You _do_ have trust issues no matter how much you don't want to admit it. You're paranoid, over-careful..."

"I'm rash and immature and think I'm invincible," Marth argued as he walked over to the door leading to the Subspace Emissary. "Something you seem to love pointing out." He tugged on it experimentally and announced, "Locked."

"Okay," Oliver said, flipping back his shirtsleeve to get his watch. "That means they've been in there for…about a half hour. The final boss's been triggered for release."

"And this final boss is…?"

"Well…It's not exactly real in the physical sense. It's a hologram linked into some moving platforms and laser guns set up in the room. There's been a mirror system set up that'll convince them—at least for a bit—that it's actually real."

"But what is it, exactly?"

Oliver waved his hand dismissively. "Sort of a giant bat-person-type thing."

"They're fighting…Batman."

"If Batman recently fell into a barrel of toxic waste and started glowing bright green, then sure. I think the techies were calling the thing 'Taboo,' although they had some weird acronym that was something like Transparent Apparatus Born of…something. I don't remember what the last two words were, but it spelled out T-A-B-U-U."

Marth nodded as if this all made perfect sense and walked over to the window using his bandaged hand to knock the rest of the shattered glass out of the frame, testing the metal's durability with his other hand. He beckoned to Oliver. "Allons-y, shrink."

"What are you doing?" Oliver asked, standing up and coming to look over the Altean's shoulder.

"I'm finding another way into the Emissary," Marth grinned, swinging himself up and onto the exterior of the fake stadium. "And you're coming with me."

**xXx**

"Teleporting's a bi—" Roy started hotly, only to have Link clamp a hand over his mouth. Everybody was frozen, and the Emissary had faded away into complete darkness once again. The brawlers were back-to-back in a circle, just waiting for the flash of light to show them were to run.

Roy mumbled something inappropriate into Link's palm and Nana sighed and hefted her hammer over to her other shoulder and whispered to him, "You're totally right. This sucks."

"Shut it," Samus said peevishly. "We'll never hear him if you guys keep talking."

"Says the girl talking," Sheik commented smugly from the other side of the circle, where she was braced against Ike's shoulder, ready to dash off at the first sign of Ghirahim.

"Says the girl who was the one who instigated the silence in the first place," Snake moaned. "Could you please act like adults?"

There was a flash a few feet to the left of where Sheik and Ike were standing, and he practically launched her off of his shoulder in that general direction. She flew through the air and landed on something not-solid, had just enough time to catch hold of silky fabric before the world fragmented all around her and she whirled off to another part of the stadium.

"Get off," Ghirahim hissed, trying to pry her off of his cloak.

"No," she snapped back, and concentrated as hard as she could, forcing both of them to explode with a puff of smoke and reappear in the center of the brawlers' circle. There was a roar, she thought she felt Ike's hand on her sleeve, but then they were gone again.

Ghirahim made it seem so _easy_.

"Impressive," the demon laughed, one again trying to peel her hands off of him. "Having a mundane human learn how to teleport like that. But I bet you can't do it more than once. The energy drain must be massive."

She didn't respond to the taunt, instead shouting "INCOMING!" to where she thought the rest of the brawlers were and clamping down even harder on Ghirahim's cloak. The world twisted and warped and seemed to compress her from all sides—but then they were both through, popping out into the regular dimension again. She had just enough time to completely relax and fall off to the side after hearing a glowing Zelda scream "GET AWAY" and the massive twang of a light arrow being released from a giant bow.

Ike caught her by the elbow, swinging her well out of the blast range as the arrow made contact in Ghirahim's chest, throwing him out of the circle of light like a rag doll. There was a flare of pink from the ceiling where he smacked against it, and another ring of purple on the ground where he'd landed, but nothing after that.

"He's probably gone again," Sheik grumbled, fighting off a headache and staggering a little into Ike's shoulder. "Good idea though—if you've only got one shot that's the attack to use, I think…"

Ike looked concerned and held the arm that wasn't circling Sheik's shoulders out to Ganondorf. "Do we have any healing stuff in the bags?"

Ganondorf fumbled for a minute with the sackcloth and produced a heart container replica. "Cheers," he quipped, sounding remarkably upbeat as he passed it to Ike, who gave it to Sheik, who gulped at the crimson contents happily and looked much more like herself after a few minutes.

"So you don't think he's gone?" Zelda sighed gloomily as she squinted into the blackness.

"Probably not," Sheik shrugged. Everybody else—eternal pessimists—mumbled agreement.

Something in the rafters creaked, and Roy pointed up at the ceiling pointedly and said, "Here we go." Whatever was up there snapped, and the brawlers with fast reflexes had just enough time to shove everybody else out of the way of some giant object that struck the ground with a huge crack. It disappeared before anybody could get a good look at it, but when they gingerly got to their feet to check out the impact site, they discovered that it had shattered the glass pressure plate.

"Oh, great," Link commented, stomping on the now non-responsive ground. "As if this wasn't hard enough!"

**xXx**

"Convenient ladder is convenient," Marth quoted from the internet as he rolled onto the roof. Oliver grumbled something about coincidences that sounded like it may have been horribly inappropriate.

"Now all we have to do is find an access hatch into the Emissary."

"You know, there doesn't _have_ to be an access hatch," Oliver pointed out rationally. "It doesn't always work like that. Life isn't a video game."

Marth turned around with a scowl. "And sometimes it _does_ work like a video game, shrink. Stop being a buzzkill and let me be optimistic. There has to be an access hatch."

Two figures popped up from behind an air conditioning unit.

"Oh, look, there's my lost childhood," Marth laughed, waving at them. They both squeaked and ducked back down.

"Your lost childhood was Team Rocket?" Oliver said patronizingly. "Psychosis field day."

Marth scowled and muttered something peevishly as he approached the two adults, moving slowly with one hand extended, as if sneaking towards a spooked animal. "Hey, it's okay," he said soothingly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Oliver snorted. "Marth. Lost childhood aside, those two are _not_ your friends. Those are people brought through the warps by Ghirahim himself. They could be playing you."

"If you had any childhood at all," Marth sighed, edging a little closer to the two behind the air conditioner. "You'd know that Jesse and James are the opposite of ruthless."

"We are so!" the lavender-haired man, James, insisted pompously, only to be shushed by his partner.

"It's impossible not to get a soft spot for them," Marth murmured, circling around to the side of the unit and smirking smugly when they didn't run away. This could simply be because their only other options were running straight at Oliver or jumping off of the roof, but Marth grinned anyway.

There was an awkward standoff.

And then, despite the fierce scowl from Jesse, James sighed and asked softly, "Can you help us get down?"

Marth nodded sincerely. "Better than that. I can help you get home. But you have to help me first. I need you guys to find me an access hatch into the Subspace Emissary. Is there one?"

"There's one over there," Jesse said, pointing over Oliver's shoulder. "How could there not be an access hatch?"

The look on the psychiatrist's face was priceless.

**xXx**

"Come out where we can see you, coward!" Link shouted into the inky blackness, brandishing his sword like he hoped that whatever new enemy they were dealing with would magically skewer itself on its tip. No such skewering occurred, although he did somehow manage to whack Ike in the shoulder with the hilt, prompting a blue riot of swearing and an elbow thrown into his chest in retaliation.

"Just stop moving," Snake commanded, laying a placating hand on Link's bicep. "There's no way all of the pressure plates are gone. We should still be able to pinpoint where this thing is moving."

There was silence for a minute, and then-

"THERE!" Zelda shouted, loosing off a fireball towards a blue blur on the ceiling. The spot seemed to explode with light as every projectile attack possible was fired off towards it, but no silhouette was revealed, and when all of the light trails had faded the blue thing was gone.

"Sorry," she apologized, feeling the invisible stares of everybody on her. "I'm sure I saw something though. It was sort of like a cross between a man and a butterfly and..."

"Sure you did," Link said tiredly. "It's been a long day, Zel."

"I saw it!" she insisted. "And it'll be back, just watch."

There was another brief, quiet pause, and then there was a pneumatic hiss from the left wall, and about half of the brawlers were suddenly and inexplicably thrown into the other half, shoved by some huge invisible force. It took a minute to sort out the ensuing tangle of limbs, but Snake and the Star Fox group all saw the blue creature skitter along the wall and let off a few shots in that direction. Again, even though they were all sure that their attacks made contact, the creature remained unaffected and disappeared along with the smoke from Snake's grenade.

"She wasn't joking," Snake announced, causing Zelda to shoot a triumphant grin down at Link, who had somehow gotten tangled up in the Mushroom Kingdom folk and was having a hard time getting back up.

"Okay, fine. It's real. What do you think it is?" he asked unhappily, spitting Peach's hair out of his mouth as he stood back up.

"She wasn't kidding about the man-butterfly thing," Fox said. "That's what it looks like."

"Ha."

"Okay, okay, you were right, you don't need to rub it in. Let's just take it down."

"With what?" Samus asked sharply, cutting across the romantic banter. "Our projectiles can't hit it. It's like the man-fly is non-substantial."

"Oh, it's very substantial," Roy testified, wincing as he flexed his shoulders where he had been hit. "And silent, and impossible to see, and all of that stuff that you really don't want your bad guys to be because it makes taking them down a pain in the-"

"Maybe it's another teleporter?" Quincy wondered aloud.

"It's possible. If it isn't, Mr. Man-fly moves incredibly fast."

"Fast is my middle name," Sonic spoke up from the edge of the group. "I see it, I run at it, I catch it, you guys beat the snot out of its possibly ethereal nostrils and we all go home happy." Nobody could see him because he was out of range of the beam sword's light, but he shrugged like it was the easiest thing in the world.

"We can't go home happy," Ganondorf inserted. "First we have to find Nintendo and figure out what they want to use this film footage for."

"How are they filming us anyway?" Pit asked, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. "It's pitch bla - There it is!"

Sonic disappeared in a blur - but nobody could see him in the first place, so it wasn't immediately obvious that he'd even moved until a hedgehog-shaped silhouette crossed over the blue form hovering on the roof.

"Night vision cameras, idiot," Quincy told the angel as he tossed a pokeball to himself, preparing to throw it at whatever was about to fall from the ceiling.

"Oh."

Momentum gone, Sonic dropped back onto the floor, rolling to absorb the impact, and popped back to feet to report: "I can't grab it. It's like I couldn't catch up to it - I thought I had it, but I just couldn't get a hold."

"So what now?" Roy asked. "We can't see it, we can't hit it, and now not even our fastest guy can touch it."

"Where the heck is Marth when you need him? He'd have a crazy idea."

"He'll come crashing through the roof any minute now," Samus prophesied. "Just give him a few minutes."

**xXx**

"Are you sure that this is the only hatch there is?" Marth said, squatting down to inspect the small square cut into the rooftop, supposedly leading down into the stadium.

"It's the only one we could find, and we've been up here for awhile," James - the more cooperative of the two - explained. "We didn't open it, though."

Marth tried to wrench it open, but it proved to be a two-handed affair. He gave Oliver a pointed look, and the psychiatrist put on an innocent face and crossed his arms.

"Don't pretend to be oblivious," Marth snapped. "You never are. _Help me_."

With a grin, Oliver crouched down and helped wrench open the skylight. It popped open as the seal broke, revealing an enclosed catwalk blanketed in dark material, presumably to stop any light from this open hatch from reaching the inside of the stadium. It was obviously the stadium inside though, judging from the shouts and various noises of battle emitting from inside.

"Great," Marth told Team Rocket, and quickly relayed instructions on how to manage the warp to them, conveniently leaving out how to adjust the world dial, stopping them from getting back to any world but their own.

"This stadium's going to land as soon as the boss is defeated," Oliver said calmly when Marth had finished, stepping aside to let the Altean leap down onto the catwalk. "You'll be able to get to the warp when that happens. Until then, hold tight."

"It won't be too much longer," Marth assured them, dangling his legs in the hole and trying to calculate how big of a drop it'd be. He chewed on his lip, and finally just slipped over the edge, surprised when his feet hit the ground only a few feet down. He made room for Oliver to follow him, only to have the psychiatrist shake his head.

"I'm really useless without a gun," he said softly, resignedly. "You go. I'll wait here and make sure that Team Rocket doesn't get into any trouble."

"Oh come on," Marth moaned. "You're not useless. You know first aid; you can talk anybody out of anything; you could probably kill a person with the pen that I know you have in your pocket; you just have to stare at a person to stop them in their tracks, even if they don't care what you think...you're a _secret agent_ for crying out loud! Come on!"

"I'm just a psychiatrist," Oliver sighed. "We've gone over this. I dealt with my past, and I'm not about to let it catch up to me now."

Marth couldn't help scoffing. "You have a police license plate on your car, dude. How is that _not_ holding onto the past? And you let Riley catch up to you. In fact, I _know_ you know self-defense because you fought her in the courtyard, remember? So don't say you're useless without a gun."

"Riley was...an early-warning system," Oliver said slowly, evasively. "Nothing else. I can't go with you, Marth...Do you want me to be honest with you?"

Marth gave him a look.

Oliver crouched down to rest a hand on the Altean's shoulder. Team Rocket slunk back off to their air conditioner, sensing that they were about to invade a private moment.

"Truth is, kid," Oliver said softly. "I'm a liar. It's habitual, compulsive, usually even necessary. It's what I do. And I'd be lying if I said I'd been entirely truthful in my explanation of recent events."

It took Marth a minute to sort that sentence out, but when he did he yelled and tried to vault out of the catwalk, only to have Oliver push him back in by his shoulder and take hold of his head, stopping it from whacking against the sharp metal on the other side.

"So how much of what you said to me was a lie?" Marth snapped, trying to wrench out of Oliver's grip.

"Most of it," Oliver whispered. "But it's all according to plan, don't worry."

"...Were you the one who showed Ghirahim how to open the warps?"

The psychiatrist smirked. "No. But I understand if you don't believe me. After all, I've never given you a reason to trust me, did I? Truth is, there _isn't_ a reason, Marth, there really isn't. You shouldn't have trusted me."

Marth blinked, and then scowled. He snarled, "So what's the plan, then?"

"Like I'd tell you. _You_ might've been naive enough to let yourself start to trust me, but when it comes down to it, _I_ don't trust anybody."

The Altean's eyes flared, and he tried to duck out of Oliver's grip again, but he couldn't quite break out of it. "Okay, so I was a naive idiot. What's your point?"

"I want you to understand."

"I don't understand _ANYTHING_, thanks to you!"

"Life is funny," Oliver said softly, leaning in close to Marth so that their foreheads were almost touching. "You think you love someone. You think you really like her, but before you have the chance to tell her, they take you away from each other, and you never see her again. Worse yet, they think you killed her. They drop all the blame on you and never give you a chance to explain. So you run. You run and promise to never look back, to never let the past catch up with you, but it always does."

Marth met his eyes for an instant, but quickly looked back down at the roof, unable to look into the sad green-gold irises without feeling something close to sympathy.

"You think that you're just going to be a background character in somebody else's life," Oliver continued musingly. "But before you know it you're appearing in every scene, watching over everything like some sort of detached father, watching everybody try so hard to _trust_ you, when your very existence should make that impossible. No matter how many fingers point your way, they always end up back in front of your door, asking for your help. Life's funny like that.

"I just want you to know, Marth, that there was really nothing any of you could do. This is me, taking charge of my own destiny. Nothing was your fault."

"No, just yours," Marth snapped. "I can't believe you -"

Oliver smiled serenely. "Last piece of advice from me: Never trust anybody but yourself - it'll cost you your life someday if you do. And there are people relying on you now."

Marth flinched.

_"Confido te. Vobis erit magna._" Oliver's voice was smooth, unemotional as he concluded, "_Pax vobiscum,_ Marth Lowell."

And then he shoved him down into the catwalk and latched it behind him, settling down on the rooftop to twirl his pen and wait.

**xXx**

Marth tumbled down into the catwalk, bashing his knees and elbows on the metal railing. His broken hand sang with pain as he lurched back to his feet and banged helplessly against the hatch, realizing after throwing his weight against it a few times that Oliver had locked it on top of him.

Swearing bitterly at himself for being such an idiot, he stalked off down the catwalk, looking for a tear in the fabric. He plucked an emergency fire extinguisher from the wall, not sure why he picked it up besides the fact that he wanted something to punch. After a few minutes of wandering, he found a rip in the thick fabric and stuck his head through.

He heard a cry of "THERE IT IS!" and just had time to duck his head back in before the fabric exploded with rockets and fireballs and grenades and everything incendiary. He had to wait about a minute for the flames to dissipate before glancing out again and shaking his good fist at the brawlers on the ground below.

"It's _me_, you idiots!" he bellowed. "Stop shooting at me!"

He could barely distinguish one brawler from the other, given the lack of decent lighting, but Samus was easily visible with her platinum hair. "...Marth?" she called, her voice surprisingly steady given that she'd thought he was dead for the past few hours. "How'd you get up there?"

Marth debated starting in on the whole Stoelhart conspiracy but decided, given the numerous weapons still pointed in his direction, that that could wait. Time was obviously of the essence. "I got locked out," he explained. "This was the only way in. What's new with you guys?"

"Well," Samus said, her whole body radiating tension as she looked around her. "We're trying to figure out how to take this new dude down. We can't seem to hit him with anything."

"You can't hit him and you never actually see him attack. Does he look like a man-bat?"

"We were calling him Mr. Man-fly," Sheik said. "But man-bat works too."

Roy's huge eyes were visible even from where Marth was. "How'd you know that?"

"It's mirrors," Marth shouted, again foregoing the explanation until a later date. "It's all mirrors. It's just a projection: not physical at all. Nintendo's got the floor and laser beams hooked up to make you think it's really there but it isn't.'

"How are we supposed to kill something that isn't real?" Nana wanted to know.

Marth grinned. "Destroy the displays."

That didn't seem quite simple enough for some of the slower ones like Bowser, so he rephrased: "Break _everything._"

That was easy enough to understand. With malicious grins, the brawlers all sprang from their central position, dodging the occasional laser bolt as they sprinted for the walls, taking occasional potshots at the floor and ceiling as they pleased.

Almost like the computer program realized what was happening, the lasers increased their frequency, and the whole floor began to rattle. Black boxes sprang up sporadically, occasionally catching a brawler or two, but few made serious contact. The system was going haywire.

The ice climber twins as well as Kirby and Dedede were taking great pleasure in smashing whatever hard surface they came across, their hammers all leaving huge spiderweb cracks wherever they struck. Samus, Snake, and the Star Fox crew could only be described as trigger-happy, sending bullets and laser beams fanning towards the walls and ceiling. Pit was up hacking at bits of the ceiling nobody else could reach, his two blades slashing huge rents in the mirrors and causing shards to rain down on anybody unfortunate to stand beneath him. Sonic churned about the stadium, pure speed rattling the mirrors past their natural frequency and causing them to ripple and crack in sequence. Ganondorf, Zelda, Lucas and Ness were blasting magical energy in every direction, shattering massive mirrors within seconds.

Everybody else was punching or hacking at whatever was left over and stomping on the fragments on the floor as if they were worried that the mirrors would magically reassemble unless they were reduced to the sand they were created from. Sheik was standing at Ike's back, throwing needles at any laser beam that presented itself, slowly knocking out the computer's offensive attacks. Mario and Luigi punched through a wall and found a wire of cables that were quickly jerked from their plugs, resulting in a power-down of the floor.

Within minutes, the whole stadium was completely destroyed, and the bag holding the smash balls was completely empty. Sparks were dropping from the occasional live wire, but other than that, the danger had apparently passed.

"Well..." Roy panted. "That was easy." He craned his neck up at the catwalk. "You still up there, Marth?"

"Yeah," came the reply. "I haven't figured out how to get down yet."

"I could carry you," Pit offered innocently. "You're pretty light, right?"

Marth was about to fire back something snarky when the floor gave a great lurch.

"Probably just the dying wheeze of a pathetic attempt to create a decent boss," Quincy coughed poetically, face flushed beneath his cap. He had a used golden hammer slung over his shoulder and had managed to do about as much damage as his pokemon, which was incredibly impressive given that one of them had been Moltres.

"Probably," Sheik started to say, but then the floor heaved again, and everybody's stomach seemed to flip for a minute as the whole stadium dropped about a foot.

"Um..." Roy said anxiously. "We aren't..._falling_, are we? Nintendo wouldn't let us fall, would they?"

"How high up were we?" Marth called breathlessly from the catwalk.

Ike was about to answer when the floor dropped out beneath them again, falling another yard before steadying, only to lurch several feet again.

"Hold on to something!" Snake shouted, but there was nothing left to hold onto.

And then the floor completely disappeared, and the whole stadium dropped out of the sky. For a fraction of a second it seemed like everybody was hovering, lifted off of a ground that was quickly disappearing beneath them.

But then it came rushing back up, twice as fast. The fake stadium struck the ground with a sound like a large bomb going off (several things exploded on the spot). Metal snapped, flimsy walls shattered into as much dust and ash, every single ceiling collapsed, and about ninety-seven-percent of the cuccos died on the spot. In essence, the whole complex flattened to half of its original height and pancaked out into twice its normal width, parts flying as far as a mile into the neighboring forest and fields. It was reduced to a third of its normal volume, with the vast majority of it immediately going up in ash and flames that sprang back up from smouldering embers.

Marth cracked his eyes open, wondering not for the first time that day if he was dead. Everything hurt so much that his hand didn't seem all that important anymore. Judging from the double vision, he assumed he had a concussion. The catwalk was a crumpled mass of metal underneath him, and he figured it'd been a miracle that he hadn't gotten impaled on any of the metal pieces that were now jutting up from the ground.

Somebody stirred next to him, and, with an effort, he turned his head to see who it was. He saw a pale figure straighten up and crack its neck, walking lithely across the wreckage as if it hadn't suffered any injuries.

He blinked a few times, wincing at the sting of ash in his eyes, and forced a reddish cape into focus, mantling slim shoulders supporting a fair-haired head. Marth swore, the foul word less of a snarl and more of a gasp. He staggered to his feet, feeling something crunch in his left knee and something warm start to seep from the back of his neck, soaking into his shirt. There was something weighing down his hand, but he didn't spare it a glance, knowing that if he happened to see bones or something protruding from his skin he'd pass out on the spot.

So he staggered after Ghirahim instead, trying to make as little noise as possible. Everything sounded muted to him, his ears blown out from the blast. He passed by Olimar, helmet shattered, and then Ike, the left side of his head covered in blood and caked with dust, and finally figured out where Ghirahim was walking.

The demon lord stopped over Zelda, contemplating something, before moving along to Link, who lay sprawled in the wreckage, face turned up towards the slivers of sunlight seeping through the broken ceiling beams.

Ghirahim crouched down, an action that made Marth's shot back hurt just to watch, and murmured something softly to the unconscious Hylian. While Marth watched, he made a dagger materialize in his hand, and set it to hover over Link's chest, which was barely rising as it was.

"Hey," Marth called, his voice a rasp, and hefted the object in his hand over his shoulder, taking the step that put him in range. Without thinking about it at all, he cocked his hip back, and swung his arms around, throwing his entire body mass into the fire extinguisher that was now flying towards Ghirahim's startled face.

There was a immensely satisfying 'TWHACK' and something in the demon's face shattered.

"Guess what," Marth panted, letting the dented metal cylinder slip from his fingers and clang on the floor. "I _can_ hit you."

And then he crumpled to the floor next to the demon, letting the darkness swoop back in and carry him away somewhere far away.

**xXx**

About five hours later and the firemen had finally succeeded in getting the fire under control. The staffers had been a huge help, hopping through the warps as needed to gather healing materials for each brawler's individual needs and setting up a car convoy to carry the medical supplies to the nearby hospital where they were all being treated.

All of the brawlers were rescued from the stadium before the ceiling completely collapsed and were treated for non-life threatening injuries. Most were no more serious than bruises and scrapes, although there were a few broken bones. Full recovery time for all of them was estimated for less than a week, especially given that they were all being supplemented with Earth-born painkillers as well as their natural healing medicines.

The most closest thing to an emergency ended up not being Marth's hand, but rather pumping all of the ash and carcinogens out of the asthmatic Quincy's lungs, although Marth was a close second. But they had all of his fingers set and ready to be healed when the cleric arrived though, so it ended up not being a very big deal.

Team Rocket, the Black Knight, Ridley, the remaining cuccos and Ghirahim were also saved from the wreckage, and were safely deported back to their home worlds, although healing services were not offered to any of them. In Team Rocket's case, the doctors declared it a miracle that they hadn't been pitched off of the side when the stadium fell. They said they were used to big falls. When Marth had asked about a psychiatrist, Jesse and James had said that they lost sight of him when the stadium started to lurch. They could neither confirm or deny that he'd fallen off.

**xXx**

Oliver Stoelhart's body was never recovered. In all of the rubble and fire, they said it could be weeks before they found him, if they found him at all.

Given that they couldn't contact any of his family members, Nintendo funded a memorial service that was scheduled for the day after the brawlers' release.

In the end, Marth couldn't quite bring himself to tell any of the others that Oliver had possibly been completely behind the stadium/Ghirahim catastrophe. Every time he thought he'd mustered the courage, he caught sight of Pit sniffling his way down the hospital's hallway, limp wings protruding from his hospital slip, turning the pilot-license that Oliver had given him for Christmas over and over in his hands, and any words that the Altean had prepared turned to lead in his throat before he could say anything. He figured that the truth would eventually come to light. They just wouldn't have to hear it from him.

Alone in his hospital room late one night, Marth google-translated the last words that Oliver had said to him on his laptop, kindly brought to him from his room back in the real stadium by Nya.

He stared at the screen for a long moment, looking at the words that the translator had come up with, and then snapped the computer lid shut, curling up on his side and clutching the pillow to his face, trying to rationalize why he was crying.

**XXX  
**

**Before you arm yourselves with pitchforks, this was scheduled to happen (I even slept on this chapter before posting to see if I really wanted to do it...). This _was_ planned. For once there actually_ is_ a plan. Everything will make sense in the next chapter or two.  
**

**I think this is honestly the worst curveball I've ever thrown at you guys. :\ For once, I'm not telling you what the Latin means except to say that Oliver is quoting Marth's father. Google translate it like Marth if you want to know.  
**

**In respect, he was an OC. OCs, by definition, should never take up as much of the spotlight as he did, and I owe you all so much for letting me play around with him like I did.  
**

**R.I.P. Dr. Oliver V. Stoelhart.  
**

**(Also, I know Tabuu was totally lame. I tried, but it's really hard to make a computer generated man-bat seem scary or legit. X_x)  
**

**Please review. Four more chapters left, and they're all happier than this one, I swear.  
**


	66. Chapter 66: Sky

**Long story short: I had this chapter all ready to go—I wrote it on July 31st, at approximately 11 o'clock at night, and was ready to upload it in the morning. Thankfully, I reread it before posting, scrapped it completely because it was utter [Mousebomb], and wrote this instead this afternoon, when I finally had some free time. XD Much happier with this version, but I haven't really edited. Probably typos. X_x (what else is new?) Also, PMs will be responded to in good time. =_= I'm so lame-I'm sorry.**

**ARGH. am I an idiot or what? I missed a few people in this the first time around. I'm so sorry. X_x**

**Thanks to _Sir StarIlI_; That was possibly the coolest review you've ever left for me. :) Power to you. ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; I'm glad that the Tabuu idea worked out. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Ray-Kat-Hollows_; It was an intense chapter indeed. ~ Thanks to _Rizzo-P_; Ah…Unnecessarily cruel indeed. Lots of happy-fuzzy moments in this chapter. Hope you enjoy. ~ Thanks to _Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye_; erm…nope. Never been to a con before. I NEED to go to one that has Travis Willingham in it though. *_* ~ HUGE thanks to _Maplesong_; Sorry I missed you the first time. :\ Thanks so much. ~ Thanks to _ZeldaandPikminforever_; Who DOESN'T say 'oi?' I say it all the time. ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; T'was quite intense. ~ Thanks to _Caxe;_ Wow—go Sonic. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Snivymizu_; AND IS IT EPIC?! ~ Thanks to _Nonixlolxinon_; …That's sort of the whole point. ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; Never has so much been represented by such a tiny little '…oh.' XD ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss Zwillingsmonde_; THANK YOU for picking up the Doctor Who reference. XD ~ Thanks to _Kyanite Archer_; *cough* Ahem. XD Marth would've died of shame. ~ Thanks to _DemonColours_; Thank you so much. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Joshabi_; Uhm…actually, that came out of the blue. I've never mentioned Quincy's asthma before. I just always picture him as kind of frail, so… XD Sorry. ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; ^_^ Mission accomplished. Thank you so much, dude. I need to get myself a fedora. ~ Thanks to _Brightcrest_; No, of course they can't, Snake! ~ Thanks to _oliverstoelhart_; OLIVER! You're supposed to be dead! Srsly now—my day was made. ~ Thanks to _mystery_; *passes box of sympathy tissues* ~ Thanks to _mr stoelhart_; OLLIE. What are you doing outside my head?! XD Yes, I think you're the only one. Oliver's always wearing a sweatervest in my head. ~ Thanks to _Miki_; Yep. 69. Because the internet. XD ~ Thanks to _redhazeKJ_; Welcome back! ^_^ I always love your reviews, and shall get started on the oneshot (almost) right away! XD Also, THANK YOU for being the ONLY ONE to figure out why Oliver died. I salute you and your smart-ness. ~ Thanks to _Draconis Kitten Sweetie_; LOL. I killed Ollie. XD And everybody calls me 'dude.' It's all good. XD ~ MASSIVE thank you to _FlameandRoy_; who I somehow missed in the original draft of this. I'M SO SORRY. I feel so bad to have missed you guys. ;A; *bows* Anyway, glad you're back. ~Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Well…yeah. ^_^**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for Doctor Oliver V. Stoelhart, who I am proud to call my own. (Once again, you'd think I killed off Marth from the reaction you guys gave me. I feel kind of bad…I figured most of you would be like "oh well" but half of you were crying. X_x) …Oh well. Also,_ seqka711_ was the one who came up with the idea of Sheik wearing a Metallica shirt. XD She drew me fanart of it. **

**Please read, enjoy, and review. This chapter was partially written based off of _MessengerOfDreams_' comments on Oliver's…Ollie-ness and for all of the people who cried at the last one. Hope this gives some closure. **

**XXX**

**Chapter 66: Sky**

The funeral was a simple, private thing. None of Oliver's family could be contacted, so it ended up just being people who knew him from his work. Most of the staffers ended up showing, despite the fact that it was raining and few actually knew him personally. The brawlers had all appeared in various stages of formal funeral attire, ranging from Samus's black leather jacket to Zelda's dark, knee-length dress to Sheik's Metallica T-shirt. Peach looked like something out of a gothic-lolita fashion book. The boys weren't much better: Link kept fidgeting with the collar of an actual suit jacket that had been pulled from who-knows-where, Snake stood somberly off to the side wearing a short-sleeved shirt and dark cargo pants, Roy was in a Pink Floyd 'Dark Side of the Moon' T-shirt. Quincy was hat-less, Ike had tied a black sash around his arm, Marth kept worrying at the knot on his tie, and Pit stood at the edge of the group dressed completely in white, one of his wings still held in an improvised sling. He—unlike the others—wasn't shielded by an umbrella, and raindrops dotted his shirt and flattened his hair.

Angel, looking somber in a black tunic shirt, made a tentative move in his direction, but stopped and held back when Quincy stepped forward in her stead, holding a red umbrella over the angel's head.

The rain pattered on the taut fabric, and Pit sighed heavily and rocked back on his heels in the mud, watching a layer of brown seep up his pant leg.

"Are you cold?" Quincy asked softly.

Pit shook his head, watching as a man ascended onto a small platform. They were assembled on the sidewalk at the edge of a graveyard, which was a bit unnecessary given that there wasn't a body. It certainly sucked the joy out of the atmosphere though.

It was obvious from the minute the Japanese man started to speak that he hadn't known Oliver very well. His experiences with the psychiatrist were basically limited to little snippets of conversation at the coffee machine, and mostly what they'd talked about had been paperwork.

"He was a man of few words," the man intoned, which made Marth snort and hastily turn it into a fake coughing fit as some of the staffers turned around to glare. "Who enjoyed a private lifestyle…"

"Don't you think this is a bit stupid?" Sheik leaned over to ask Ike in a whisper.

He shrugged, and switched his grip on his umbrella to make sure it was covering her as well. "Were you referring to the fact that we're in a graveyard when we don't need to bury anything or the fact that this guy can't have spent more than five minutes with the psychiatrist but he's the lead speaker?"

"Okay fine, those too," she acquiesced. "But I mean—come on. They only just cleared out the wreckage from underneath the stadium but our psychiatrist has still been declared dead. I mean…"

"Even if he survived the fall," Ike said rationally. "Nobody can survive buried for a week."

Next to him, Marth promptly stopped coughing.

"Yeah, but wouldn't you think they would've found something?" Sheik insisted. "People don't just disappear without a trace, or if they do, they're never dead. It never works like that."

"It happens all the time," Ike said curtly. "People incinerate, disappear, go off to war and don't come back, get shot in a back alley in a place where nobody'll think to look for them, fall through a rip in the time-space continuum…Whatever. Most of the time they're dead. It'd take some sort of miracle…"

"Stop," Marth murmured, his voice falling in a flat, detached whisper. "I don't want to hear."

They both gave him a look, and with a strangled sigh he detached himself from the group, walking out from underneath the protection of Link's umbrella and out into the drizzle, walking away from the funeral. A large chunk of the crowd watched him go, shuffling almost dreamily away from the gathering. After a pause, and a check that the man at the podium hadn't noticed, Samus darted out after him.

"You okay?" she asked when she finally caught up. He slumped against an oak tree, his white shirt clinging to his shoulders and turning translucent in the rain.

"Sure."

"This seems to be bothering you a lot," she hazarded.

"I just—I feel like I wasn't reconciled with him," Marth muttered, kicking a rock into the base of a nearby mausoleum made of white marble. "It's not the fact that he died that bothers me—I of all people am pretty used to that aspect of it. It's the fact that I don't know _why_ he died, or what his motivations were, or who he is—_was_." He winced at the correction. "I mean…" He gestured helplessly towards the memorial service. "We were all laughing at that guy up there, but who's to say he knew Stoelhart any better than the rest of us? I bet even if we pooled all of our knowledge about him, we'd only end up with a paragraph of small type on a piece of paper. And the handful of facts we do know are either lies or useless trivia."

She was about to say something sympathetic, but he suddenly whirled around and kicked the tree with enough ferocity to shake a few leaves off the high branches and make her think that silence was perhaps the wisest course of action for the moment.

"It bothers me that he was so unpredictable," he hissed. "I don't know if I should be remembering him as the biggest jerk that's ever screwed around with me or as some sort of…I don't know—_father_ figure or something. It bothers me that I don't know, and I'm not going to get the chance to ask, and there's no way for me to figure it out on my own_._ The guy i—_was_ an enigma."

"You seem so determined to relegate him to the past-tense," Samus commented as Marth slumped into a sitting position on the grass, entwining his fingers on his knees. "When you know as well as I do that things aren't always what they appear to be. Our lives don't seem to work that way."

"If he didn't die when the stadium fell, where did he go?" Marth asked hollowly. "Answer me that, Sam."

She didn't have a good reply for him. She knew what the technicians had said.

Marth decided to repeat what he'd been told anyway: "Almost all of the bottom levels of the fake stadium were instantly incinerated, crushing anything that may have fallen underneath into nothing more than dust and ash. There was so much rubble that any microscopic human remains would have been impossible to detect. Medical personnel and emergency responders arrived within minutes—definitely not long enough for anybody to get out of visual distance of the fire, and a perimeter was established soon afterwards that would have caught anybody who hadn't been immediately noticed. It's not possible for there to have been any survivors outside of the stadium who we missed, and the stadium was so unstable when it fell that it's not at all unlikely that he was simply crushed by one thing or another. All of the rubble beneath the stadium has been picked up now—nothing could survive that level of destruction. Despite our horrible luck when it comes to beating the odds, Oliver Stoelhart is no longer in this world, Sam. There's no other way around it.

"I'm just annoyed, because I don't know whether I should have punched him or hugged him, and now I'm never going to get the chance to do either."

"Even if he were alive, you still wouldn't know," Samus said soothingly, reaching out an arm to help pull him back to his feet. "You said it yourself—he was an enigma. We'll probably never know exactly what happened to him, or who he was. And I think he would've wanted it that way."

He glared at the grass at his feet and shivered. She tossed wet strands of hair out of her face and waved her hand impatiently in front of his eyes.

"Come on," she said briskly. "I'm cold, and all I want to do is get back in the car and drive home."

He nodded, and then clasped her hand, letting her haul him back to his feet.

They walked back to the funeral, where the Japanese man was dedicating a small plaque in Oliver's honor. It was to be fixed in the American localization building of Nintendo, in Redmond, Washington.

"Oh my gosh," Marth blurted upon seeing the name emblazoned in gold letters across the black metal. While everybody else just stared, slack-jawed (much to the Japanese man's confusion), Marth nearly doubled over laughing. Because he got the joke. The last joke.

The plaque read: _"In Memoriam: Dr. Gavin Brooks. 1985-2012"_

"…The heck…?" Link gasped.

The Japanese man glared down at the letters. "What?" he asked, taking in everybody's expression. "What did you _think_ his name was?"

**xXx**

Conversations with administration staff members—who for the most part remained cloistered in their offices and were rarely seen interacting with the kids—revealed that the man known as Oliver Stoelhart was, in fact, registered in the payroll system as Gavin Brooks. Marth discovered that googling Gavin Brooks produced a heck of a lot more results than Oliver Stoelhart had. The name plaque that had previously sat on Oliver's desk, proclaiming his name as such, had also mysteriously disappeared.

The rest of the day passed, for most people, in a sort of stunned, solemn daze. It also involved heavy doses of vitamin-C for Pit, Marth, and Samus, who all ended up drenched to the bone from venturing out of the protective cover of an umbrella and were convinced that they were coming down with colds.

Pit had holed up in one of the rec rooms, armed with a box of tissues—that he alternately used to dab at his nose and eyes—and a wiimote, which he was using to steadfastly play his way through Twilight Princess, which by this point was quite battered and had to be cleaned with a special cloth to get the Wii to accept it as a playable disk.

Quincy, Nya, Angel, and Liam were all hanging out in the same room, and had some sort of silent card tournament going on. Without anybody saying a word, everybody sensed that Pit didn't want to talk, but at the same time didn't want to be alone by himself. So the four of them stayed in the room, but were careful not to disturb him.

Sheik and Ike decided that the rainy atmosphere prompted a movie marathon, and Link and Zelda ended up joining them as they pulled up about fifty episodes of pokemon on TV-on-demand. Many bags of popcorn were consumed, and pokemon didn't exactly lend itself to much intelligent or thought-provoking conversation, so in that way it served its purpose. Ike and Zelda concluded that Team Rocket were much funnier on the television as opposed to in real life.

Samus and Snake were hanging out in the cafeteria, playing game after game of chess, silently. He sensed that her heart wasn't really in it, and was happy to beat her time and time again until she marshaled her focus at last and started turning the tide back upon him. Sonic was tossing a bouncy ball idly to himself in the same room, the ball creating a rhythmic pattern of 'thwacks' and 'boings' as it ricocheted off of different pieces of furniture.

Roy, Nana and Popo were in the gym, playing piggy-in-the-middle with a medicine ball. Despite the attitude of the rest of the brawlers, they seemed to be having a good time.

Marth had closed himself away in his room with a Dean Koontz novel and didn't reappear until after dinnertime. He had thrown a balled-up sock at the door when Ike had asked him if he wanted in on the pokemon marathon and declared that he wanted to be left alone.

**xXx**

It was nearly going on midnight by the time Marth had finished his book and tugged off his headphones. He glanced at the clock, frowning at the late time, but couldn't seriously entertain the thought of sleep yet. Realizing that he had somehow managed to skip dinner, he stumbled from the bed and wandered down the dark hallways barefoot, pulling the creases from his shirt and wondering what he could scour up in the kitchen. Ramen really didn't appeal at the moment. Neither did anything that required preparation.

In the end, he just made himself a ham-and-cheese sandwich and wandered around the dark corridors, lazily eating off all of the crust before starting in on the actual bread. The stadium was freakishly quiet—after a night in a hotel followed by almost a week in the ever-bustling hospital, a calm night seemed downright eerie.

He was almost relieved when he caught the glowing light in one of the rec rooms. He stuck his head through the doorway, half of a Kraft-single hanging from his mouth, and realized that the glow was coming from a TV screen. A TV screen on which Link was running around, shouting at nothing and swinging a stubby sword haphazardly.

Marth eased over to the couch, spotting wings and finally identifying the gamer as Pit. A pile of gunky tissues littered the ground all around him, and Marth was careful not to accidentally step on any of them as he came up behind the couch.

He tried to not be startling as he tapped Pit's shoulder and asked in a quiet voice, "Why are you still up?" but Pit still shrieked and jumped about a foot in the air, wiimote and nunchuck arcing towards Marth's face disturbingly like the weapon one of them was named for.

"Hey," he said, ducking back down behind the couch and daring to stick his nose over the top after a minute. "Chill, kid, it's just me. Why are you still up?"

Pit gave him a leery look, and then reached for another tissue to blow his nose with. Out of the three, the angel seemed to be the only one who actually had managed to get sick.

"I couldn't sleep," he said thickly, wiping at his nose with the sleeve of an oversized Viking's sweater as he saved his video game. "You neither?"

"Nope. Too much to think about," Marth sighed. And then looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Do you know if it's still raining?"

"Shouldn't be," Pit said. "Why?"

Marth straightened up, stuffed the remainder of the sandwich in his mouth, and tapped the kid's shoulder impatiently. "Come on—Sam taught me this trick to cure insomnia."

"Where are we going?" Pit asked, turning off the wii and plunging the room into darkness. There was a minute of flurried cursing as Marth accidentally stepped on several damp tissues, and then his eyes adjusted again and he led the way through the hallways.

"Marth?" Pit whispered as they neared the destination. "What are you…?"

But by that point it was obvious where they were going, so the question was dropped.

Marth pulled open the door leading to the stadium, and led the way across one of the many rows, threading his way in-between the plastic seats and finally plopping himself down in the one he determined had the best view of Orion, patting the seat next to him pointedly.

Pit settled down, and looked up at the dark, star-littered sky. "I've never been out here at night," he admitted in a hushed whisper.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

They spent the next few minutes in silence, watching the sky slowly rotate by them. A breeze stirred the summer air, carrying with it the scent of the earlier rain. The silence was so absolute, so meditative, that nothing would have broken it for a long time had not…

"Marth, look!" Pit cried, jabbing a finger up at the Milky Way. "A shooting star!"

Marth squinted in that general direction and pulled a face. "I must've missed it."

"Look, there's another!" Pit insisted, tugging on Marth's sleeve and pointing. "And there, and there! You saw those, right?"

"Meteor shower," Marth said softly, but the scientific explanation didn't take away any of the magic of the moment. For a few minutes, it looked like the entire sky was falling, stars floating down through the heavens like snowflakes.

The two of them witnessed the event until it stopped, and remained transfixed by the beauty of the stars for a long time after that.

Despite himself, Pit started nodding off against Marth's shoulder after awhile, his dark eyes fluttering shut for increasingly long periods of time. Marth, on the other hand, remained wide awake, and set about cataloging as many of the constellations as he could. There was the Big Dipper, and Ursa Major around it…Orion, obviously. Cassiopeia, Draco, Leo…All of them had different names to him, of course, but they were all still there, waiting for him. It was sort of a relief to realize that no matter where he went, something like the stars would always be the same.

The clouds started rolling across the sky at some point later that night, by the time Pit was completely asleep, sprawled out with his head lolling against the back of the seat and his sweatshirt hood up and knotted tightly around his angelic face. The clouds wisped across the moon, shrouding the stars and reflecting some of the ambient light from the highway.

Marth was just starting to finally feel a little dozy himself when he caught the dim blue flash echoed in an overhead cumulous.

For a minute, he didn't believe what he was seeing, but when it didn't go away, he lurched to his feet, the sudden movement wrenching Pit back into reality just in time to have Marth seize his arm.

"Come on!" the Altean cried, already sprinting towards the exit. Without understanding the reason why, Pit unfurled his wings to zip after him.

Marth tore down the hallways, dashing for the main exit, his bare feet slapping against the floor. Pit pinwheeled after him, barely keeping up despite his wings.

"Marth!" the angel shouted as the Altean spun around another corner. "What is it, where are we going?"

"I just saw the warp go off," Marth said breathlessly. "The _warp_, Pit, don't you get it? It's the one thing that survived the stadium falling on it! _It's the warp! That's_ how he did it!"

Pit didn't understand, but followed Marth anyway. He alighted on the ground just as the Altean threw open the exit and beamed himself down on the grass. Pit reappeared after him just a few seconds later, but Marth was already sprinting ahead, running towards the glowing blue circle in the singed grass underneath the belly of the stadium.

The Altean skidded to a stop as the blue column of light intensified to almost white, and a dark silhouette started to form within it.

Pit's jaw dropped open as the silhouette solidified, taking the form of a tall, slender man in a tunic.

The light faded after a moment, and all that remained was the man. He stepped off of the warp into the grass, eyes flaring green in the light of the moon, and belatedly noticed that he was being observed.

"Y-you're not dead," Pit stammered.

"I don't die easy," Oliver Stoelhart said with a grin. "Give me some credit."

"Where did you go?" Marth asked in an awed whisper.

"Altea," Oliver replied in a no-nonsense tone, stripping off the tunic and replacing it with a button-down. Buckled boots were discarded in the same manner, replaced with loafers.

"But…you're dead," Pit said haltingly, seemingly unable to get past that basic point. "We gave you a funeral…! Just this morning, I…It was raining…And they got your name wrong."

Oliver nodded and smirked impishly. "Yes, Gavin Brooks is dead. That was sort of the whole point."

"So…you planned this whole thing…to die?" Marth said disbelievingly.

"Pretty much. Worked out pretty well, yeah?"

If Oliver hadn't been too busy smiling at Pit's stupefied expression, he may have seen the Altean's fist flying for his face, but even if he had, he probably couldn't have dodged in time.

"Marth!" Pit shouted furiously as Oliver staggered back a step, blood seeping from his previously-bruised cheek.

He smiled wryly, cupping a hand to the swollen skin. "I guess I deserved that."

"Guess you did," Marth agreed, his voice smooth and unrepentant. And then, before there was time to say anything else, he took a step forward and grabbed Oliver around the midsection, squeezing tightly.

Oliver laughed, returning the hug fondly and clasping Marth by the shoulders when the latter stepped back. Pit had yet to close his mouth since Oliver had appeared, and surely would have swallowed a firefly at some point had Oliver not spontaneously flicked him underneath the chin.

The low rumble of an engine rumbled across the hills, and the headlights of a car pierced through the darkness.

"That's my ride," Oliver said, tucking the tunic and boots underneath his arm and striding off for the parking lot. A dazed Pit and a thus-reconciled Marth trailed after him.

"Wait," Pit blurted. "You aren't staying?"

Oliver whirled around, pale face flushed. "I'm sorry, kid." He sounded like he meant it. "But, like you said…" He spread his arms wide, and his smile was huge as he concluded, "I'm dead."

"But…" Pit started to protest, but was choked off with a hug of his own and an affectionate hair ruffle.

In the meantime, a military-ish SUV pulled up into the parking lot, and none other than Kiersten O'Riley rolled down the window, barking something at Oliver that sounded sort of like 'getchoashmovin.'

Oliver nodded to show that he'd heard, but then turned back to face Marth and Pit appreciatively.

"Were you watching for me?" he asked.

"No," Marth admitted. "I just saw the warp go off and thought maybe…"

"I'm glad," Oliver said kindly, turning on his heel and starting to walk for the car. "Both of you grow up safe now, okay? Don't let me down."

"But wait!" Marth blurted. "There are some things I want to ask you first!"

"There are some things you're destined not to know," Oliver retorted, swinging himself into the passenger seat. "_Esse tutum._"

The engine revved, and Pit suddenly blurted, "Will we ever see you again?"

Oliver beamed. "I'll be around," he assured.

The SUV donuted in the parking lot, throwing up a huge cloud of dust and residual ash.

"Wait!" Marth shouted, but the car was already flying off back down the road. "_OLIVER!_ WAIT!"

"Time waits for no one," came the laughing reply. "_Vale, _Marth Lowell! _Vale_, Pit!"

And then he was gone, just a trail of headlights quickly vanishing into the distance, swallowed up into the night.

Pit managed a shaky smile. "He's not coming back, is he?"

Marth shook his head wryly, and then turned on his heel and walked back up towards the stadium, leaving the dust trail of Oliver Stoelhart to dissipate into nothingness and be swallowed up by the star-studded sky.

**XXX**

**Just because a certain SOMEBODY (you know who you are) would not drop the idea that Oliver is secretly Marth's long-lost father from Altea. I couldn't resist. XD Also, this marks the first and last time that somebody from Brawl calls Oliver by name. Figured that Marth should be the one to do it.**

**Psh. I could never kill off Oliver. That's not how I wanted to do things. I was severely tempted to have him steal away in the dark of night without talking to anybody, but I figured Marth and Pit deserved a little better than that. I'm a sucker for fluff. **

**But because it's Oliver and—like the Dairy Queen Incident—some things will never officially be explained in The Game, you can PM me if you're desperate to know exactly what went down and why he did what he did. I had it all worked out in the original version of this chapter, but I tossed it for the sake of quality writing and the full explanation didn't exactly find its way back in. X_x' Plus, I know a lot of you liked Oliver as the perfect enigma that he was, and don't want to know, so I left the choice up to you. **

**With the final semi-violent arc officially concluded, I can admit that I never intended to kill anybody (in other words: you're safe from here on out). On the other hand, I'm throwing around ideas of a cop/serial-killer based fic that I may do after this, and people would die in that one. XD We'll see how that goes. Would anybody read that?**

**Anyway, _Vale, _Oliver Valentinus Stoelhart. You will be missed. But hopefully nobody's crying this time.**

**THREE MORE CHAPTERS! Please review.**


	67. Chapter 67: The Moment We Were Alone

**You guys owe the ever spectacular **_**MessengerOfDreams **_**MASSIVELY because I would not have been done with my chapter until sometime next week (stupid cross country season). XD Instead, you get it today. HAPPY FRIDAY. **

**Thanks to **_**SakuraDreamerz**_**; he is risen indeed. ~ Thanks to **_**DracoFreezeFlame**_**; Alrighty then. Thank you for being the only one who answered the question about the serial killer story. XD ~ Thanks to **_**MessengerOfDreams**_**; You're a semi-inspiring dude. ~ Thanks to **_**catsrae**_**; I like stories where nobody dies too. XD ~ Thanks to **_**Caxe**_**; I am uber flattered by the suggestion and can only suggest in return that you check out my deviantart. (same username) ~ Thanks to **_**neuron6**_**; Yus. More fluff. Uhm…I'm assuming they were able to hook Olimar up to some sort of non-oxygen pump, but I really didn't think that through, did it? ~ Thanks to **_**Brightcrest**_**; Shame on Marth for eternally angsting. ~ Thanks to **_**Gavin **_**; YAY! My work here is done. ~ Thanks to **_**Draconis Kitten Sweetie**_**; AHAHA! *accepts tackle hug* Glad thou art pleased. And YUS. Poke-marathon FTW. ~ Thanks to **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**; I'll shoot you a PM once I drag my brain out of the gutter. b==d ~ Thanks to **_**Azulhada**_**; Change of plan! (psh, there is no plan) ~ Thanks to **_**Rizzo-P**_**; I love reactions like that. You made my day. You can write fanfiction for Vocaloid?! HECK YES. ~ Thanks to **_**Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye**_**; Ah…We need to go to a con someday. ~ Thanks to **_**redhazeKJ**_**; "squeaked?" XD Awesome. ~ Thanks to **_**SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde**_**; Uhhhm…(Yes, it should've been John Smith. I bow to your superior geekiness) ~ Thanks to **_**Tiara Prince/Echoing Breeze**_**; Thank you so much. Congrats for making it through the whole thing. ~ Thanks to **_**seqka711**_**; Ah, I'm sorry I forgot about you. You have credit for the Metallica shirt now. XD ~ Thanks to **_**TwiliRupee**_**; We've actually got two more chapters of fluff and THEN the epilogue. ~ Thanks to **_**CandyThief**_**; Power to Ollie. ~ Thanks to ****; HAH. AHAHA. ~ Thanks to the game rocks; Oh sweet Lord. Have I mentioned how much anon reviewers like you make my life? *Squees* ~ Thanks to **_**Girlaremo**_**; HE LIVES! (don't doubt the feeeeeeeels) ~ Thanks to **_**FlameAndRoy**_**; TRY BOTH! XD ~ Thanks to **_**DwellonErised**_**; Cuteness abounded. XD Thanks so much. ~ Thanks to **_**Miki**_**; AH CONFLICTIONS AND FEELS EVERYWHERE! xD ~ Thanks to **_**Shut Up Elmo**_**; At some point, yes. ~ Thanks to **_**Jetzul**_**; Thank you so much, but everything comes to an end. ~ Thanks to **_**Anonymouse**_**; Did I mention how much lovely anons like you make my life? ****对不起，我的中国不好 ****~ Thanks to **_**Zaphod**_**; Hitchhiker's Guide reference in the username? Oh, there will be a smattering of miscellaneous one-shots once this is complete, rest assured. ~ And thanks to **_**Sir StarIlI**_**; XD But of course. It was still an entertaining idea. **

**Ah…my life is made and my brain is mush…Panic not: I'm writing the last two chapters, but MoD very kindly is giving you all a final taste of his epicness. **

**So, with that, here he is:**

**A/N So when I asked Mousey to let me do one of the last chapters of The Game, I actually had a game plan in mind for what to do. Then I realized that game plan was presumptuous, would mess up a good portion of the canon, made no sense and was overall just not as good as I thought it was. So I'm just going to incorporate a bit of it into the chapter here. Otherwise, I have more of a subtle tribute idea. **

**One thing that always gets Mousey's attention is a good MarthxSamus story. She sees it and nearly leaps into the computer after it. Or so I envision it. And that's when it hit me. **

**Actually, it's just now that it hit me to be honest.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, regret nothing, and let them forget nothing.**

**xXx**

**Chapter 67: The Moment We Were Alone  
**

It was a lovely day, Marth deduced.

It took a lot of persuasion to get Marth outside for no apparent reason. It wasn't that he disliked being outside (although he honestly bided his time better playing the latest Zelda game), it was just that if he was, there was usually a reason. A game to play, a person to meet, a place to go or a thing to do.

Today, though, it was just a lovely day and Marth wanted to honor that by being outside.

He was surprised; however, that he was the only one outside. He shouldn't have been, however, because his idea of a lovely day usually involved a dose of rain and a welcome chill. He became accustomed to it for what it was, other than a good excuse to stay inside and partake in a gluttonous marathon of media consumption. He rarely decided to just go outside and walk around. Perhaps he was still a little emotional and high strung and just a bit sentimental after everything that had occurred. It had been a decently spaced span of time so at least the wounds weren't bothersome anymore, but they were still there if rubbed the wrong way.

Maybe it was just as it seemed; a nice idea.

Either way, he pulled a sweatshirt over his head, using the strings to pull it tight around his head. He preferred to appreciate rain from a distance; never invading on its personal space too much. He was pretty decent at that. The rain still seeped through his skin but it was fine. He walked down the stone path, looking for a reason, something to justify him walking out in the rain for no reason.

He found her sitting on a corroded wooden bench.

He drew in a sharp breath, feeling his blood heat up. A brief chill coursed through his spine and up to his shoulders, but he didn't react immediately. He figured it must just have been the weather.

He knew for a fact that it wasn't the weather.

Slowly, hesitantly, he walked towards the bench, its cracks filled with rain. He sat next to her anyways.

She didn't look up at him, but a small smile lit up her face. "Hello, Marth," she welcomed him.

"Hey Sam."

Samus looked forward across the plains of the mansion grounds, holding out her hand to catch raindrops. Each one dissolved into her skin, tracing around the ridges of her fingerprints.

Marth always noticed little details like that about her.

"What brings you out here?" she asked.

"You first."

She just shrugged. "I love the rain."

"It's pretty neat," Marth offered. He gave her a brief look-over. She wasn't wearing a coat; just a long sleeved t-shirt, plain light blue with no other decoration over a pair of ratty jeans. She wore red flip-flops and looked positively cold, and yet she still was smiling.

Without putting much thought into it, he began to rustle his way out of his sweater in order to give it to her. She stopped him with a hand to the chest. He froze, missing a breath.

"Don't. I love the rain."

"I gathered that, but surely you must be freezing."

"I don't mind."

"If you're certain."

"Stop worrying."

Marth didn't reply, letting her remove her hand from his chest. Samus placed her palm back in the rain, seeming content.

"Why are you out here?" she asked.

He just shrugged. "I don't have a clue."

"How typical."

He pushed her lightly, smirking. She didn't seem affected, still surprisingly illuminating. He noticed how rain-soaked her hair was; to the point where the saturation rendered it chestnut brown. He barely even noticed that he was running his hand through the tangled mess before she herself froze in surprise.

"Hello," she whispered in surprise.

Marth stopped, aware of what he was doing. He felt a stirring in his gut that formed itself from many emotions. "Hello," he replied, unsure of where this was going.

"We've been here before."

"I remember clear as day."

"Sweet."

Neither one moved for at least half a minute, both rigid with hammering hearts. Finally, Samus retracted her palm from the rain, settling back into the chair. She pressed her neck against Marth's hand quietly.

Marth felt a need to grasp for conversation. "So, I heard a young woman's going to be showing up in a few days courtesy of the gods above at Nintendo."

"I was unaware of this," Samus replied. "Is it a new smasher? Seems like such odd timing, what with…" she didn't finish her sentence.

Marth crept closer, scooting across the bench until his leg was brushed against hers. "No, not a smasher."

"Damn," Samus replied. "I was hoping for Midna."

Marth cracked a laugh. "That's what I was thinking."

Samus gave a low chuckle; more of a vibration than a sound.

"Nope, it's apparently a fan. They're going to give her a tour and she's going to meet all of us. I can only pray she's not a yaoi fangirl."

Samus sighed. "How'd she get involved?"

"Contest, of course," Marth informed her. "Apparently to sidestep the whole fiasco from last month, they held a contest for whoever could write the best fanfiction featuring us."

"If that isn't existential," Samus quipped.

"Apparently she wrote one of the two of us," Marth tried to make the remark sound a lot more casual than he thought of it.

"Huh." Samus didn't sound confidently uninvolved.

"Hey," Marth offered. "Maybe she's a really bright person. I mean, a good writer can't be all that bad."

Samus shrugged. "I hope she's not the biographical type."

"We can only hope," Marth cracked a grin, moving his right hand around to her right shoulder. To his surprise, she fell against his chest, content.

He just smiled, closing his eyes.

"I'm going to miss you," he mumbled before he could help himself.

Samus was silent, as if she hadn't heard him. Once Marth realized what he had said, he sincerely hoped he wouldn't.

"Don't," she eventually replied.

"Don't what?"

"Don't miss me."

Marth struggled for a reply, his heartbeat speeding up again. "Samus, I… I'm going to miss you. I really am. You…" he didn't finish his thought.

"Don't lose me," she replied.

Automatically he held onto her forearm as if she could blow away at any moment. She looked up at him, reading his anxiety.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "I'm just sort of… thinking."

"About dang time," she cracked.

"Heyyyy."

She smirked.

"It's just," Marth took a deep breath, gathering his words "that we've only got a short amount of time left before the tournament ends. It seems to be creeping up faster and faster."

"I know," Samus replied. "It's making me oddly sentimental."

"That explains a lot."

She just smiled, falling back against his chest.

"It's just…" Marth swallowed hard. "I know that we don't have much time. I'm so used to this… things being so simple. We've had our rough times but we've always had each other. Link, Zelda, Ike, Sheik, Roy, Nana, Sonic… you and me." He sighed, clenching his left fist. "And when I leave… that's going to be gone. You're going to be gone. We'll all be back in our own worlds doing our own thing… growing up. And… that's just the way it is."

"Marth…"

"It's true, isn't it?" Marth snapped, demanding her to challenge it.

"No. It's not, Marth. Listen to me."

He tensed up but didn't reply.

"I won't be gone. Not completely. I'll be a long ways away, but I'll find you whenever I can. I'm not going to say goodbye for good. I'm not going to end things. No matter what time or space dictates, I'm not leaving. Not for good."

Marth seemed even more unsettled than ever, visibly jittering. "How can you say that?"

"The universe is endless, Marth. To think everything is zipped tight in its own universe just seems stupid. I can't help but think that if I fly far enough in one direction, I'll pass you one day."

"Sounds pretty insane," Marth blurted out.

"A woman in denial often is."

Marth fell silent. Samus shifted uncomfortably, interlacing her fingers in his.

"If I'm just insane about all that, Marth, I'll find a way," she reassured him.

"What if you can't?" Marth argued, his voice cracking. "What if it isn't enough?"

Suddenly, Samus shouted in frustration, launching herself away from him and clambering to her feet. Marth was taken aback by her reaction, almost crestfallen. She didn't care.

"What the heck more do you _want,_ Marth?" She glared at him as raindrops created a haze between them. "I'm willing to deny the laws of the universe to make us feel better. I'm willing to fly millions of miles across the stars just to remind myself that you exist and that I know you. Does that mean anything to you, just how crazy it's driving me that we're all going to be apart? That I'm going to be alone again? That I would really do anything I could just to see you again? For me…" She stopped for a moment, noticing that the moisture slicking across her face wasn't the rain and that her voice had shattered into a thousand glass chips across the ground. She noticed that during her ramble Marth had already stood up across from her, his expression unreadable.

She couldn't look up. "That's a big deal for me, Marth," she whispered.

"Samus, I understand," he assured her. "I'm… it really is great to hear you say that, you know? I… I'd do the same if I could. But…"

Samus felt a hand underneath her chin, and to her surprise let Marth lift her face up to make eye contact with his. He was smiling softly.

"But what, Marth?" she asked.

"I don't want to break your heart with hope, you know, only for you to go the rest of your life without finding me again."

She snorted, retaking her seat on the bench. Marth followed her but didn't pull her back towards him. He felt awkward and out of place there, as if he was just making things worse.

"Well," she sighed. "Marth, how well do you know me?"

"I'd like to think pretty well," he replied.

"Is that so?"

"Well, what I can pick up on," Marth grinned cockily. Before anyone could stop him, he was on a roll. "I know your birthday is on November 3rd, and this year you refused any cake or candy because after the Halloween fiasco you would be damned if you saw anything like that before Christmas. You actually lived up to that promise, because you have the discipline and determination unlike anyone I've ever seen. You're not much for pretty or fluffy most of the time, but every once in awhile I notice you've done your hair nicely instead of leaving it in a ponytail. I never say anything because I don't want to embarrass you, but I've always liked it when you did that.

"You're a good fighter and you enjoy fighting but you swear that your Zero Suit form is higher on the tier list than your Varia Suit form because perverts would rather see you in skintight blue clothes. You try not to let on but you're self conscious and you prefer to hang out at the back of the bus, literally and figuratively.

"You're not a huge video gamer and you don't line your walls with posters but when you find something you enjoy, you dedicate yourself to it. Speaking of which, I heard a good theory on Reichenbach." When Samus' eyes lit up and she grinned, he raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't think I was paying attention, did you? But yes, even though you do look bewitching in a tank top, when we watched it I was into it. I watched all six episodes and loved every single one. I mean, it takes a bit of getting the taste but I got it. Before we go, we'll have to compare theories on just how Sherlock did it. Sounds like a debate I'd enjoy."

Samus laughed again, and Marth was certain she was blushing. "Is that all?" she asked, beaming.

"I… reckon that's about chapter one," he replied with sincerity.

"Well, it's pretty good," she insisted. "More than anyone else has ever gotten, for sure. I think, though, that there's only one thing you just don't quite get."

"Then do tell."

"First, wrap your arm around me again. I like that."

Samus smirked as he saw Marth's face flush red. That was fine with her; she was fond of a good bit of payback every now and again. As he did so, she leaned onto his shoulder, facing him. "Have you ever thought, Marth, that maybe the reason that I'm willing to risk letting my heart break like this is because… well, either way, you already have it?"

Marth gasped, as if he finally got it.

"Just a theory," she added lightly, closing her eyes.

Marth shook with what Samus hoped was laughter. Breathily, he replied "So it's not just me."

"Never was, Marth," she assured him.

He pulled her closer, sighing many emotions at once. She let him, turning around to face him.

"So let's not give up so easily, okay?"

Marth looked at her, every bit of his emotions brewing in his stomach like a magical spell in a cauldron. Her hair was plastered across her face, thick with rain. She was still flushed from the rain and from nerves, and she seemed just as jittery and anxious as he did. Yet her eyes still shone a radiant blue.

Marth decided he loved the rain as well. It wasn't the only thing he loved.

"I won't."

**A/N In the name of Mouse and The Game, I find it fit to leave it here. **

**This chapter was inspired by Mouse after she was inspired by me. She was so taken by something I wrote in my little spinoff story, **_**The Game: Young Blood (**_**fun fact: it was the initiative Mouse took to make Nana a more recurring character). It was a scene where Nana looks on awkwardly at Samus and Marth relaxing on a bench, and how she could feel romantic tension between them. Mouse loved that scene and wrote a story based off of it, named **_**A Quiet Place**_**. Knowing she really loved that scene, I gave it a redux, tying in the anxious fears of growing up and moving away and growing apart and hoping that a teenage romance will survive it all. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. It depends. It's all freakishly uncertain though, isn't it?**

**Don't remind me.**

**Not sure what else to say, other than respect for just what Mousey has done. I don't recall if any of you remember how pissed I was when people were getting mad at Mousey for shutting this story down, but sometimes I just have to wonder if anyone knows just how incredible an achievement this story is.**

**Think about it. Just how much can you remember from The Game? You remember plot points, certain lines of dialogue, the characters, the moments, all that good stuff… but do you realize that there are nearly seventy chapters in this story with nearly 300,000 words, and Mousey has written 66 of them and written 92% of it? I'm lucky enough to have contributed that eight percent with her. **

**Think of it. That's sixty-six sets of replies, author's notes and thank yous. That's a thousand typical novel pages full of the canon and interaction and every single world-creating detail that Mouse has put into the Game. There are little inferences and things about each character that you've probably forgotten by now, but it's by those Mousey constructs the rest of her story. Rarely does a story come along like this where we have characters that not only the audience grows with, but the authoress grows with. Within this world Mouse has grown to be ten times the authoress she was when she started. And she's just… it's hard to fathom just how much this sixteen year old girl has done in this story and has given us so easily. **

**I think the reason she's ending it is because Marth and Samus, they're not the only ones growing up and moving on. **

**Everyone should give her a big thank you. I know I sure owe her a lot. (Of course, do that before or after you give me a review telling me how incredibly awesome this chapter was. :3)**

**I'll give it back to you, Mousey. And maybe this time I'll do the replies right, Mouse willing. **

**~MoD**

**xXx**

**MouseNote: **Well, now that I'm halfway through my computer screen drooling over the glorious Smarthus…I'm not entirely sure what to say here. I'm flattered? Insanely happy? Gloriously, perfectly, incandescently giddy? Something like that, maybe. But there's a bit of me that's sad too, but I blame that on the melancholy of life as opposed to anything lacking in the writing (JEEZ I _wish _I could write like him. XD Fun Fact: I only had to correct his language twice.). I was going somewhere with this…

AH. (long author notes are long) I just wanted to say that MoD managed to capture exactly what this project has come to represent to me. Sure, you can interpret it as some slice-of-life humor piece, and normally that's what I try to portray it as, but recently it's taken on a deeper aspect and I hope that people are okay with that…I hope people learn something from this. Take something away, walk away feeling satisfied…or something.

Even if you don't, even if you've read all 67 chapters and are still just pleasantly amused, briefly entertained, I'm still thankful to you to giving me so much of your time. Two more chapters from here: I can promise you that neither of them will come up to this glorious standard.

Please review for my writing idol, if only to make him realize just how ridiculously awesome you guys all are with your reviews. XD


	68. Chapter 68: Politics

…**So I'm not sure if you all remember this, but MoD actually wrote the last chapter. He has some thanks for you all: …*goes off to die in a corner* Here he is:**

***dashes in* Hey guys so for someone who doesn't even have school ****anymore, I'm a really busy mousebomber! To keep our dear queen Mouse ****from waiting any further I'll cut to the chase and answer the reviews ****and keep the flowers till the end. I'm a little sad today, though. Mostly a compilation of small things; The Game is ending, my computer is down, Michael Clarke Duncan died, ****other small things. Thanks for all your reviews, though; they brighten ****my day up for sure.**

[_Redhazekj_: I think you reviewed after MoD wrote this up (because he wrote this about a month ago...), but I know he read your review. Thanks. ^_^]**_ SirStarlIl- _Who, me? Haha, thanks?_ :P ~ Draconis Kitten Sweetie-_ Aw, that's a shame to hear, but we all have our opinions. And it's not like I ever expected to beat Mousey. Thanks ****for the honesty, but as long as Mouse is happy I think I did just fine. ~ **_**SysyImi:**_** I think all you marathon readers deserve a huge hug. And thanks for your kind words on my arc and latest chapter. I was trying to match Mouse's style while still adding my own twists, which include Nana's inclusion into the canon. It's very hard to nail characters as detailed as these as opposed to the empty slates they were when Nintendo gave them to her, so I'm glad I did well. ~ The **_**game 1 fan**_**: Haha, I pictured throwing up rainbows as someone physically tossing rainbows from their arms into the air. Hope you're okay after your happy vomit! And thanks! ~ **_**MusicGamer**_**: I'm supposing this is for Mousey? I'll leave it to her**_**! **_[Aw…gee…thank you so much]_** ~ Caxe**_**: Thank you very much for such a kind review. I'm glad you see this the way I do, and I'm glad you appreciate her as much as I do. Do keep up your work, as it's the dedicated writers that are often the best. ~ **_**Castrae:**_** I totally understand what you mean by SSB Canon, although in this case I see this as canon for The Game. It's really its own universe. Thanks for the review! ~ **_**Tiara Prince:**_** Not sure if you knew I (MessengerOfDreams) wrote thischapter, but if I almost had you sold on Mouse's pairing that's pretty neat. :P I don't think awesomeness like Mousey's will ever go away. :) ~ **_**Mystery8icarus:**_** All yours, Mousey. **[I'm glad you enjoyed Oliver. XD] _**~ FlameAndRoy**_**: I'll turn it over to Mousey for you but thanks for enjoying my chapter! I'm glad Mouse let me pitch in. **[Thank you so much—you guys are awesome]_**DwellonErised:**_** Glad you enjoyed it! :D Mouse, she's all yours. **[AGH. SO much happiness!]_**CandyThief:**_** No worries, there'll be no Nolanesque plot twist followedby a Nolanesque BWAAAAM. This is all real. Crazy, true, real. omg: *looks up Kawaii* Oooh, lovable. New vocab addition! I'm glad you like it, but the end of the Game is inevitable. Enjoy it while it lasts. :) ~ **_**DemonColours**_**: Thank you kindly for your praise. It means a lot. I really wanted to sell the will they/won't they perfectly, so I'm glad I did well at least. ~ **_**Anonymouse:**_** Haha, clever. I like. Also, time to GoogleTranslate! Erm... no, I haven't been to China, but it sounds cool! I will, and so will Mouse (keep up the good work, I mean.) ~ **_**Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye:**_** Mousey, she's all yours. **[Maybe we do…DUN DUN DUUUUN]_**~ Rizzo-P:**_** Oops, I got it wrong. Also I was supposed to be Chapter 68 but Mouse was overtaken by life so I sent in my chapter to buy her time. :P Your review was very entertaining, BTW. I was thinking about ****including Popo in the Halloween arc but it didn't fit right to me. Anyway, I'll let Mouse have at you!** [lol—dude, you're awesome]** ~ Thanks! **_**musiccat19:**_** I know this is for Mouse, but MOUSEBOMB YEAH 69 CHAPTERS**. [*cough* aaabout that…]_**SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde:**_** I'm really glad you loved this chapter so, but come on, we know Mouse'll top it! ~ **_**seqka711:**_** Smarthus indeed! (sounds like some kind of pasty candy). All yours, Mouse! **[Well, it's had its share of hiatuses, but it shall always push on!]_**Maplesong:**_** Wow, I'm kind of blushing from all the praise, haha. It's very kind of you, don't worry. I'm very happy with a review like that. ~ **_**Azulhada:**_** *insert Mouse here* **[…crud. I can't find your review. ;A; I'm sure it was awesome though…sorry sorry *bows*]_**MidnightNocturne:**_** On Mouse's half we'll have to agree to disagree. I think that over 67 chapters she's done a very fine job with it. I just tried to cap it off before the end. Anyway, what Mouse does with this story is entirely up to her. :P ~ **_**Brightcrest:**_** Haha, let's hope not. I'm glad you liked this chapter despite the pairing. And yeah, love can make you promise crazy things. ~ **_**Lord Lithos Maitreya**_**: I understand, don't worry, and you're welcome, haha. And yes, I'm definitely pro-less-mope... not that you could tell from my chapter. ~ **_**SakuraDreamerz**_**: Wow wow, thank you! :D ~ **_**Mariko Midori:**_** I'm glad you liked it, and caught a little moment like that. They do make a story. Wow, just, I'm very honored to be able to help out with my writing and**

**to bring this fic to a good close. Give Mousey tons of love as she finishes!**

**I'd say more but I must go. Fare thee well! And DFtbA!**

**~end of MoD's epicness~ *sadface***

**Oh…jeez…I didn't realize how many of these reviews were actually for me until I went back to edit a few seconds ago. Now I'm tearing up. You guys are [MouseBomb]ing amazing. So is MessengerOfDreams. I love that dude. But anyway, I went back and added my remarks into the review section in brackets like this: [ ] But either way, the support for this story is unparalleled, and if you're still here despite my two-month hiatus, then I need to give you a hug and maybe cry onto your shoulder, because that's just so amazing and I don't deserve it but it's so cool and I'm rambling…*trails off lamely*…**

**Let's just actually get to the story, ne?**

**I don't own anything but myself. And my name is not Grey, but I wish it was [hush, dear readers. It will make sense in a moment. Just roll with it]. I'd also like to say that the political season here in America is driving me insane. I won't bore you with my personal views, but the constant bashing on both sides is getting ridiculous. So I wrote a chapter about political jargon. Go figure. **

**In the last chapter, MoD mentioned that a girl had won a contest prize to tour the stadium. I took that idea and ran with it, and threw in some traditional Game randomness as well. Please read, enjoy, and review. (I hope this was worth waiting two months for…OTL)**

**xXx**

**Chapter 68: Politics **

The room technically wasn't silent. One of the two occupants was periodically pounding on the keys of a laptop computer, and while he was staring at a wall trying to think of what to say next, the one sitting next to him on the couch was scribbling furiously across a sheet of notebook paper, frequently crossing out vast swaths of what she'd written.

But there was no talking. There was some mutual understanding between the two of them that any words would completely destroy the atmosphere of the moment, and the atmosphere was pretty much the only thing that kept them in the room as opposed to throwing the computer/notebook against the wall and stalking out.

Quincy stuck his head into the room cautiously, and loped inside when he saw who it was sitting on the couch. A mousey-haired teenager followed him, her eyes as large as saucers.

"And here we have Zelda and Marth," Quincy said to her. She nodded understandingly, her green eyes darting over both of them in a way that suggested she was trying her best to memorize everything about them. The pokemon trainer grinned sheepishly and rocked back on his heels. "So what're you guys doing?"

"It's political season," Marth said peevishly, jabbing the delete key.

"…So…political ad rage?" Quincy guessed, and was rewarded with a smirk from the girl next to him. "Quitting TV cold turkey until November 7th? Hulu?" The trainer glanced at Zelda's notebook, which was covered in a scrawl that would have put a doctor to shame. "Deciding to write a novel in all your spare time?"

The two gave him a look, and then a double-take.

"Who is this?" Marth asked, kicking his shoes off of the back of the sofa so he was sitting in a more upright position. When it wasn't crumpled around his waist, his shirt was revealed to bear the slogan "I'm with Awesome," accompanied by an arrow pointing up at his face.

"She won a contest," Quincy explained briefly. "She's taking a tour of the facilities. I'm trying to introduce her to as many people as possible. "

"My name's Grey," the girl introduced herself, sketching a Japanese-esque bow in their direction. "Average citizen, fan of all things geeky and collector of misplaced plot bunnies. Also a really hoopy frood who knows where her towel is."

"Nice," Marth smirked. "I hope you enjoy your visit."

"Anyway, Quincy, it's _Hylian_ political season," Zelda corrected. "All of the landowners and magistrates are coming back to Hyrule for the winter. If Link and I don't want to go back, then I need to get some sort of speech worked out for my counsel to give the migrators."

"Oh," Quincy said, and turned to Marth. "What about you? Hylian and Altean political seasons line up?"

"Well…more or less," Marth said distantly. "Except normally I have people who take care of this sort of thing for me." He elbowed Zelda pointedly. "Because _I_ have a _good_ counsel."

"My counsel is adequate, I just don't want them putting words in my mouth," Zelda fired back. "Besides, you're writing your own speech too."

"My country is on the brink of war! Excuse me for feeling like I should write something personally."

"But…you're typing it," Grey said confusedly, struggling to keep the conversation relevant. "Won't that…I don't know…freak people out?" She wiggled his fingers in a poor pantomime of keystrokes and adopted a sarcastic tone as she said, "'Ooh, electricity—must be the work of the devil.'"

Marth sighed and propped his feet back up on the couch. "It would, and I'd probably be denounced as a heretic, but I hate writing political stuff by hand the first time 'round."

Grey and Quincy cocked their heads simultaneously. "Oh?"

"The calligraphy takes a long time to write," Zelda explained patiently. "And if you mess up you have to start over. So it makes sense to draft on something where it's easier to erase, like a computer, or a notebook."

"Oh," Quincy said awkwardly, resisting the urge to twiddle his thumbs. "So…it's not something you like doing?"

"It's tedious and boring, so no," Marth snapped, poking out another sentence. "Plus, I've been here so long that I'm starting to forget the syntax." He looked over at Zelda. "Are you having that problem too?"

"I'm just paraphrasing, at the moment," she replied sympathetically. "I don't even have my rough draft planned out yet."

"Yeesh."

"Quite."

Quincy—feeling like a third wheel—shuffled back towards the door. Grey, with a regretful look, trailed after him. "I'll just leave you guys to it…"

"Oh no," Marth cried, dropping his laptop onto the sofa and springing to his feet. "Break time—we'll help give the tour."

"Marth," Zelda complained. "You said we weren't leaving until we'd both finished. That was the deal…" But the Altean was already gone, slinging a familiar arm over the girl's shoulder and towing her out of the room and into the hallway.

**xXx**

"Oh nonono," Link was cackling when the touring group came into the rec room. "You don't want to do that. Australia is _mine._"

"Not for long," Sheik countered, defiantly setting one of her game pieces down on the large map that was splayed across the floor, right on the edge of one of Link's territories. She tilted her head in Ike's direction. "Your move, O' Great Master Strategist. Want to help me take over Australia?"

"Australia and New Zealand are mine!" Link protested furiously, but Ike grinned and started shipping some of his troops across the Pacific.

"Risk?" Quincy asked, dropping himself down on the floor next to Samus, who apparently wasn't reading but seemed to be engrossed in a Batman comic book.

"Yes sir," Sheik confirmed smugly, tucking her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt, watching Link scramble to defend his boarders. "The political ads were driving us insane, so we unplugged the TV. We found this gathering dust in a cupboard."

"Can I play next game?"

"Sure."

"And who's this?" Sheik asked, nodding in the direction of the bespectacled girl hovering in the doorway.

"A contest winner," Quincy explained, crossing his legs and watching Link make a brave foray into Asia. "She's here just for today, seeing how we do things."

Marth slipped into the room and started reading over Samus' shoulder. She snuggled against him and murmured, "I thought you were working on your speech?"

"Yeah. Was," he sighed, and then laughed when Link overturned the game board in a fit of rage, sending pieces and cards flying everywhere. "But I hit a block, so…I just kind of ditched it for the time being. I'll come back to it."

"Just don't forget about it."

"New game, new game!" Link cried, raking his hair out of his eyes and beckoning Roy—who had been prodding at a Wii U prototype curiously—over to the floor. "Play with us, kid! I need somebody on my side."

"But Risk is boring and takes too long," Roy protested. "It's like Monopoly—it's just a tug-of-war game for territory. Let's play something different."

"We could play Mafia," Samus suggested offhandedly, nose still buried in the shiny pages of her comic.

"Mafia?"

"Yeah, it's…" She set her book aside and leaned forward to explain. "You've got the doctor, the narrator and the killer, and everybody else is a townsperson…"

"I think I've played this before," Ike announced, adjusting his potion on the floor.

"It's more fun playing Mafia with a big group though," Samus said pointedly. "We should round everybody up."

"Meet back here in five minutes with a friend," Sheik declared, snapping her fingers and gesturing towards the doorways. "Disperse!"

Everybody bounded off in different directions, kicking little Risk figures all over the carpet. Marth and Samus remained curled up in their corner reading, and it was to them that the guest directed a helpless, "Does this happen all the time?"

"More or less," Samus answered.

"Welcome to the Brawl stadium," Marth added.

**xXx**

"Okay," Sheik said seven minutes later to the small crowd assembled on the floor the rec room. With the addition of their contest winner, there were fourteen people present. "Who wants to narrate?"

"I call epic dibs on narrating," Link said, tossing his hand into the air.

"Okay," she consented. "Everybody else close their eyes while Link picks out the parts." There was a pause, and a rustle of fabric as Link walked around the room.

"Two taps for Mafia members, one tap for the doctor," he announced belatedly. "Sorry about that. You can open your eyes."

There was a brief review of the rules—restating that the three-member Mafia could pick one person to kill per turn, the doctor could save one person, and the townspeople could choose to kill one suspect each turn, before Link started:

"It is night, and all the townspeople are asleep." The group bowed their heads as a whole, Zelda reluctantly setting her notebook aside. "Mafia, wake up."

Three people lifted their heads.

"Who do you want to kill?"

After a moment's consideration, they all pointed at the same person. Link smirked. "Excellent choice. Mafia, go back to sleep. Doctor, wake up. Who do you want to save?" He laughed. "…Interesting. Go back to sleep. Town, wake up."

Everybody lifted their heads.

"On this awful autumn morning," the Hylian intoned, clutching at his own chest. "We would like to mourn the loss of our close friend Marth, who—"

"Oh come _on!_" Marth blurted.

"You're dead, you can't talk," Link hushed, a huge grin stretching his face. "—Who tragically died last night due to consuming a poisoned jell-O cube in the wee hours of the morning. The doctor, unfortunately, was so busy treating his or her own nonexistent life-threatening disease to arrive in time, although he or she _did _possess the antidote."

"I hate you all," Marth sniped, hunching into a ball and crossing his arms. Everybody ignored him.

"Discuss!"

There was a quick flurry of conversation, followed by Roy announcing that the townspeople would like to arrest Zelda.

"And so the townspeople—armed with beam swords and spider bombs—chased poor Zelda out of town, where she ran into the path of a cement truck and was flattened before she could face justice in the system. For, alas, she was being accused unjustly."

There was an unanimous 'aw,' and one offhanded 'yay' from the dead woman in question as she picked up her notebook and continued scrawling across the page.

"You're really fanatical about that thing, aren't you?" Marth teased. "I bet I still finish before you."

Zelda muttered something rude and made an obscene hand gesture in the Altean's direction.

"Hey now. It's nighttime, close your eyes," Link chuckled. "Unless you're dead. Mafia, wake up."

"I_ KNEW_ IT!" Marth hollered as the three Mafia members opened their eyes and picked out a second victim. "I _so _knew it!

"Shut up, Marth. Nobody cares. Doctor, wake up. Okay. It is now daytime. Last night, we bear witness to a true tale of heroism, as our favorite citizen Pit was the near victim of an assassination attempt. Somebody spiked his warm milk, which he always drinks before bedtime…"

"Do not."

"Do too and everybody knows it," Link countered. "Fortunately, the town doctor was able to run to his rescue and arrived in the nick of time, although he or wasn't close enough to see the killers' faces. Discuss!"

"Okay, so we know it's not Pit," Ike said of the angel, who grinned happily. "And I'd like to say that it's not me."

"It's not me either," Nana piped up, her round face flushed.

"Me neither," Pit said proudly.

"…Yeah, this isn't going to work," Sheik rolled her eyes. "I say it's Nana—she was pretty quick to try and clear her name after Ike."

"O_ho_!" the ice-climber in question blurted, rising to her knees in a challenging sort of way. "I think it's _you_, Sheik!"

"It could be either," Ike said idly, falling back onto his elbows. "But I'd go for Nana."

"_I'd _go for Sheik," Roy snapped back.

"It could be _you_," the general pointed out rationally.

On the sidelines, Marth and Link smirked conspiratorially.

"That's two votes for Nana and two votes for Sheik," Samus said. "Do we have a third for either of them?"

"I says it's Sheik," Popo said.

Sheik opened her mouth to make her case, but before she could…

"Sheik it is," Roy agreed. "We'd like to arrest Sheik."

Link and Marth grinned simultaneously, and the Hylian narrated, "Sheik was locked away in jail. Armed only with a plastic spork, she determinedly scraped away enough concrete to tunnel her way out. Unfortunately, her makeshift cave fell on her as she attempted to escape, and she died."

"That's lame," Sheik grumbled, crawling out of the circle of townspeople and over to the growing clump of the recently deceased.

"There aren't that many creative ways to kill somebody when they're just getting arrested." Link shrugged. "Alright, it's nighttime. Mafia, wake up. …Doctor, wake up." Sheik rolled her eyes. Marth suppressed a giggle. "…Alright, it's now morning. On this truly awful autumn morning…"

"Oh here we go," Samus said.

"…We're here to mourn the loss of young Lucas, who was thrown into the river and drowned last night. Foul play is suspected. The doctor was nowhere to be found. Discuss."

"Aw man, we killed the doctor, didn't we?" Roy moaned, smacking a palm against his forehead.

"Yup," Sheik deadpanned. "Smooth move, guys."

Quincy raised his hand. "Can I be a medium and channel the voices of the dead to find out who the Mafia is?"

Link thought about it for a minute. "Nice try, squirt, but no."

"Can I come back as a malevolent spirit and kill my murderers?" Marth wanted to know.

"Not yet," Link said. "The townspeople have enough citizens left that they could still win. The Mafia just can't outnumber them. So long as there are at least four townspeople left, the Mafia hasn't won yet."

"Well, what about the visitor?" Ike asked. "What was your name?"

"Grey."

"What about Grey, then? She's been awfully quiet," Ike continued. "Nobody would suspect her."

"Not a bad deduction," Samus said thoughtfully. "I'd vote for Grey."

"I'm not the Mafia," the girl protested. "What about Popo? He voted with Roy to kill Sheik, the doctor. Both of them could be in on it."

"Okay, so a vote for Roy and a vote for Popo, and two votes for Grey," Link highlighted mirthfully. "Anybody else?"

"Nana," Roy said. "Vote for the girl with me."

"I'll vote for _you_, then!" Quincy insisted.

"I'll vote for Grey with you, Roy," Popo said. "Just to get my name off the list."

"And with that," Link said somberly. "We chase our own guest out of our house. It is now nighttime. Mafia, open your eyes."

"_Ooohh_…" the girl said, nodding at the three who lifted their heads. "Now I get it."

"It is now daytime. Because you killed off the doctor, there is nothing stopping the Mafia now. Their latest victim was poor Quincy, who…um…I don't know. The circumstances of his death are too gruesome to share with you all—All I shall say on the subject is that it involved an extremely dull cheese grater."

"What?" Quincy burst out.

"First the spork now the cheese grater. What's with you and using kitchen appliances as lethal weapons?" Sheik commented.

"Shut up, I'm hungry. Look, you guys only have seven members left. This means that if you pick the wrong person, it'll be three-to-three, and they'll beat you three-to-two next turn. Don't mess up."

"I think it's Roy," Samus said softly. "He killed Quincy when the kid threatened to vote for him last round."

"I think so too," Ike agreed. "And he's been really vocal in the debates up until now."

Off to the side, Sheik and Marth grinned.

"I don't think it's him," Nana said. "I think it's you, Ike. And maybe Samus too. You two have been voting together lately. We know it's not Pit, because they already tried to kill him. Ness hasn't said anything, but…"

"I'm not the Mafia," the boy said earnestly.

"We can't mess this up," Samus said calmly. "And we can't just ignore Ness. You've been pretty quiet yourself, Nana."

"So that's…what? A vote for Ike and a vote for Nana?"

"I vote for Ness," Popo said.

"I'll vote for Ness with you," Samus decided.

"Then I vote for Ike," Pit said softly.

"I'll vote for Ike too," Roy said.

Link was counting on his fingers now. "So…Two votes for Ness and three votes for Ike?"

"I'm not voting for myself."

"Three votes each, then," Link concluded. "It's all down to Ness. Are you voting for yourself, Ness?"

"To die?"

"Yup."

"No."

"_Finally._" Link beamed.

Ike groaned.

Grinning, Link said gleefully, "And so, the townspeople—spurned by grief—turned on one of their own, and threw Ike into the ocean. As he never learned to swim without floaters, he drowned, and the mafia mourned the loss of their own. Play on."

"HAH!" Roy burst out. "So that means that the people who voted for Ness are all Mafia! Samus and Popo!"

"Revenge will be ours!" Popo cried suddenly, leaping onto Roy and pelting him with Risk game pieces.

Quincy and Marth looked at each other, and then leapt into the fray with cries of "DIVINE RETRIBUTION!"

Within a few minutes, punches and shoes and game pieces were flying in all directions and cries like 'Huzzah!' and 'Back, heathen!' were dispersed through the chaos, along with an abnormal number of Monty Python-esque insults that some of the brawlers deemed appropriate for the situation.

Zelda stayed out of it, guarding Samus' Batman comic and sitting with Grey and her notebook. The girl was watching the fight with an odd sort of fascination, and she leaned over to ask Zelda incredulously, "Does this sort of thing _really_ happen all the time?

"Only when we're bored," Zelda deadpanned, and then ducked a cloth missile and rephrased, "Yeah, this sort of thing happens a lot. What do you think?"

"It's amazing," the girl replied. "It's really, really amazing."

**xXx**

"So I take it you're not coming to dinner?" Quincy asked, hovering in Marth's doorway and looking in on the Altean, who was sprawled across his bed, a sheet of parchment propped up against an Atlas he'd gotten from who-knows-where. A feather quill was in his hand, and he stuck the tip of it in his mouth as he looked over at the pokemon trainer blankly.

"Sorry, what?"

"I said, I'm guessing you're not coming to dinner," Quincy repeated. "So how's that speech coming along?"

"Don't even…It's all just stupid political jargon," Marth sighed melodramatically. "It's a royal pain, pun unintended."

Quincy hummed unsympathetically.

"The whole thing has to be politically correct, and you have to smile all the time, because everybody's always watching…" The Altean prince kneaded his forehead and moaned. "Kid, you have no idea how lucky you are to just be an average citizen."

Quincy just smirked. "And isn't it lucky you can come here and pretend to be one, for a bit?"

"Sure, Quince," he sighed, and scrawled his signature across the bottom. "Did the girl have fun?"

"I think she liked it here," Quincy nodded. "Nya told me she was talking to staffers about how to get a job. She said something about this making a great story."

"Uh-huh," Marth said nervously. "That sounds ominous."

**xXx**

**I know there are typos. I'll fix them later.**

**I swear the next chapters DON'T feature Marth in the spotlight. The guy keeps stealing it. o3o But the next chapter will have lots of Nya/Quincy and Angel/Pit and Roy/Nana and all of those pairings I've been neglecting lately. It's just that Marth comes the most naturally to me at the moment, and I haven't written this thing in awhile, so I wanted to play it safe.**

**WHENEVER I play Mafia the doctor always dies in the first few turns, and then the rest of us are just left sitting there going: "…Well…this is unfortunate." Without. Fail. Man.**

**So…I'm an awful person. XD I'm actually sort of disappointed that this thing isn't going to end at 69 chapters, because that would've been funny. It's now going to end at 71. (The REALLY funny bit is that I announced this would be ending in March…and it's almost November…X_x The lesson of the day is that Mouse is a terrible terrible procrastinator in every aspect of her life)**

**Anyway. You guys are all so marvelous, and I want to glomp every one of you who's stuck with this blessed thing for almost two years. This chapter is already kind of massive without me sticking a whole other review section in here, but thank you so much for everybody who replied to the filler chapter I had posted here while I sorted out my issues. You guys are so supporting, I love you all. *hugs all around* I'll reply to PMs soon, I swear. I mean it. PM me and bang me over the head with metaphorical objects if I don't. **

**Also, I got coerced into helping with the Titanic musical at school, so I'm thinking the next chapter might be closer to two weeks out instead of one (better than two months though...), but I'm making an effort to keep the remaining chapters on some sort of schedule! X_x GRAH. WHAT IS THIS I HAVE A LIFE. ASDfkj;wat….It's a new experience for me. **

**Anyway, have a nice Halloween in the meantime. :D Fun costumes all around.**

**Please review. **


	69. Chapter 69: Games

**I'm sorry this took so long, but this is the last time I'm going to be able to focus on the OC pairings, so I wanted to make it worth it. **

**BTW, I hope all of my fellow Americans reading this had a nice Thanksgiving. **

**I know there was a glitch with this chapter, so I apologize to anybody who reviewed for my angst-fit and then wasn't able to review for the mafia chapter that replaced it. Really sorry about that… **

**Thanks to _SakuraDreamerz_; My next SSBB story is scheduled to focus on Ganondorf, Marth, Zelda, and Link, so I probably will stick with mainstream characters for the most part, but there will be a lot more backstory for the minor characters than in this one. :) ~ Thanks to _TwiliRupee_; I'm glad you were entertained. XD ~ Thanks to _Brightcrest_; Woot! I reeeeally want that shirt that Marth was wearing. XD *cough* …MoD set that up, not me. I just rolled with it. XD ~ Thanks to _mystery8icarus_; Mafia is such a fun game. ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; I shall wear my title of 'Procrastinating Goddess' with pride! ~ Thanks to _wolfeclipse25_; I'm glad you were able to mostly understand—I thought everybody played that game. I probably should've explained the rules better OTL ~ Thanks to _Musiccat19_; I'm really disappointed that I couldn't end on 69. *sadface* ~ Thanks to _Anonymouse_; I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE. XD ****我还没有玩过****. ****对不起****. :( Is it a good game? ~ Thanks to _EvilChalkboard_; Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _Rizzo-P_; Dude. Do you have ANY idea how long I was staring at the number 71 trying to make some dirty image out of it because of you? =_= ~ Thanks to _neuron6_; …*cough* ~ Thanks to _ElementCommander_; OOH! Right! Oh mah gawsh. *runs off to check out because I forgot like the tard that I am* ~ Thanks to _Akayuri_; *fluuuussh* Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _CandyThief_; I DON'T KNOW MAN! I just woke up one day and I had it. ~ Thanks to _Twilit Smash Nova_; Link totally should take over Australia. For reals. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; It sounds like the game Murder in the Dark. Have you ever played that? ~ Thanks to _DracoFreezeFlame_; I THINK you spelled it right… ~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams;_ HECK YEAH BOI! *happy face* Oh my gosh. You have no idea how happy your reviews make me. ~ Thanks to _Guest;_ I read all of my reviews. :) Holy cow, that sort of faith in me is incredible. I'll do my best to continue to deserve it! ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; lol—'Oliver was a cool enough character that you don't really care.' That comment made my day. ~ Thanks to _Draconis Kitten Sweetie_; *cough* No, they show up in order of review on my little box-y thing that I read when I'm doing this, so your review slots in right where it should be! No worries! ~ And thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; who PM'd me with his review. You're a cool dude.**

**Special thanks to _Emerald Dynamo_, who gave me the idea for this chapter. The focus totally shifted to something else (completely by accident…), but at least it started out with that idea. XD I hope you enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. ….*spoink* …..Oh dear Lord. This is the EEEEEEEND. *goes off to curl up into a corner***

**Anyway, please read, enjoy, and review.**

**xXx**

**Chapter 69: Games**

"Okay, that is it," Pit whined, shaking his feathers and sending icy droplets spattering against the wall. Next to him, Quincy was shrugging off a soaked jacket and dropping it into the ever-growing puddle at their feet. "It is officially too nasty to play outside."

Roy, who happened to be passing, took one look at the two of them and raised an eyebrow. "Is it raining again?"

"No," Pit huffed, whipping off his drenched T-shirt and wringing it, sending a small cascade of water down to the floor as well. "It's _sleet_, dude. It's freezing and cold and it sucks and I swear I'm not setting foot outside until May."

Quincy was smacking his hat against the wall, and it connected each time with a wet slap and a flurry of drips. "I second that."

"Looks like hot showers are in order," Roy hypothesized, plucking a headphone bud from his ear and letting it dangle around his neck. "But when you're done with that…"

Both of the boys sensed that something good was being hinted at and stopped what they were doing—shaking their heads back and forth as if they were two chocolate labs—and looked at him curiously.

"Well…" Roy grinned. "You know how Nintendo made a mash-up videogame with everybody in it that they wouldn't let us play because it had spoilers?"

"Oh. My. Gosh," Pit breathed, dropping his jacket onto the ground. "You're joking. I thought they swore we'd never get our hands on that game, dude."

"Marth put together a petition yesterday and managed to talk everybody into signing it," Roy said smugly, bouncing on the heels of his feet. "He said that since we all had access to the internet and nobody had—to quote his words exactly—"significantly screwed up the time-space continuum" we'd proved that we're able to handle that sort of thing without messing things up. So Nintendo caved and shipped us a copy. We're booting it up on the Wii now."

Pit flitted a few feet into the air in his excitement and Quincy looked on the verge of sprouting wings himself.

"Shower first," Roy advised. "Pneumonia sucks. But hurry, because everybody wants their turn."

Pit was already pinwheeling down the hallway, whooping and spattering the walls with rainwater with every stroke of his wings. Quincy trotted in his friend's wake, holding Pit's wet jacket as well as his own. Recognizing that he had no hope of beating the angel, he paused in the end of the hallway and tilted his head as he asked, "Roy, why aren't you playing?"

Roy shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, sticking an earbud back in and reaching into his pocket to crank the volume. "Eh, I can wait. I'm not in this game, so…"

"Oh. I forgot." Quincy dropped his eyes to the floor, suddenly awkward.

Roy rolled his eyes. "Oi, go take the shower. I'll get blamed if you get sick, you know."

"…Okay. Sorry."

"Hey, I don't mind," Roy clarified. "It just means I'm not as embarrassed as Marth is by his girly haircut and his speed downgrade, that's it."

**xXx**

Quincy stepped out of his bedroom about fifteen minutes later feeling much better, a towel wrapped around his shoulders as his hair dried.

"Whoa," he yelped, nearly running into Ike in the doorway of the rec room, which was packed to the walls with what seemed like ever soul in the whole stadium.

Ike turned around apologetically and tried to make a little room for the trainer to squeeze in, but there was next to no elbow room and Quincy ended up crushed in-between Ike's side and one of the guys from kitchen staff.

"Why is everybody in here?" he said, raising his voice to be heard over the buzzing conversation.

"Who wouldn't want to come and watch?" Ike asked back. "Nobody can get the hang of the system. Link nearly threw the wiimote through the television earlier."

"Wow, really?" Quincy stood up on his tiptoes, but still wasn't able to see past Ike's shoulders. He could hear shouting from the center of the room, but couldn't tell what was going on.

Ike looked down at him sympathetically. "We could send you crowd-surfing."

"NO," the trainer flushed. "No. I'll be fine. I don't really care…" He turned to go back out of the door, but found that the opening he had squeezed through was completely clogged up with staffers. He spun back around a bit helplessly, and found himself face to face with Nya, who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Heya trainer," she said pleasantly, tilting her head to the side and smirking at his double-take. "You look lost."

Quincy blinked. "Where the heck did you come from?"

"Up there, from behind the sofa." She pointed a thumb over her shoulder. "C'mon. I want to see you play!" She grabbed hold of the brim of his hat and towed him through the crowds, elbowing people out of the way whenever they didn't make a path for her.

Quincy trailed after her and finally caught a glimpse of the couch, around which a circle of onlookers had formed.

Four brawlers, in this case Marth, Ganondorf, Link and Lucas, were all struggling with the wiimotes, all controlling virtual projections of themselves on the television screen. Marth seemed to have the best handle on the controls, but even he was having trouble keeping his sprite on the screen. Everybody else seemed in a state of near panic, with Ganondorf cursing steadily under his breath and leaning left and right as his character moved and Link frequently lashing out with the controller as if it were a sword and looking horribly let down when nothing happened. Lucas was just button-mashing and was somehow winning with five kills.

At the end of the two minutes, Marth had made a heroic comeback but still lost, and Link and Ganondorf were glaring down at the remotes with distaste.

"You call that a combo," Link huffed. "Kid, take over."

Before he had time to process what was happening, Link had shoved the wiimote and nunchuck into Quincy's hands and steered him in front of the couch.

"I don't…!" the pokemon trainer tried to protest, but Link was already leaping over the side of the sofa and Nya was grinning at him in a 'go-on' sort of way that left him helpless to try and pass off the controller to somebody else.

"How do I even…?" he asked awkwardly. He liked handhelds—the Wii confused him. He had directed the question to Marth, but the Altean was in the process of trying to talk Samus into playing and Ganondorf ended up answering instead.

"The Z button is attack," he growled, indicating the trigger on the bottom of the nunchuck. "A is your jump, B is guard. You move around with the control pad. It's pretty simple."

"Okay," the trainer said, settling down and feeling a bit more sure of himself. Marth walked him through selecting his new character, and then had to repeat everything when Sheik plopped down next to him to try her luck as well.

They initiated another free-for-all, and Quincy clumsily manipulated his Squirtle around the stage for a few minutes, and then got more confident and waddled his pokemon over to Sheik and pressed Z.

He was rather surprised when nothing happened and wondered if he'd done something wrong. In the meantime, Ganondorf's sprite had wandered over and casually swatted the pokemon off of the screen, where it exploded in a colored flare.

"Hey! What the heck?"

"Play the game," Ganondorf smirked.

Meanwhile, Sheik had learned how to change between herself and her counterpart, and seemed to be enjoying using fireballs. Marth was slowly mastering the controls and generally causing mayhem wherever he sent his sprite, and Quincy wasn't figuring out why his controls weren't working. The jump button wasn't working either.

"Oh for the love of…" he heard somebody exclaim behind his shoulder, and the wiimote was promptly plucked from his hand. He whirled around to see Nya standing over him, button mashing expertly, a determined look on her face.

"Okay, first," she declared as she vine-whipped Ganondorf off of the stage. "A is attack, not Z. Z is guard, jump is C, and B is special attack." She charged up a shot and fired it, skillfully knocking Marth off as well. She launched the cyber Ivysaur across the screen, slamming Ganondorf off of it again just as his invincibility wore off. For good measure, she thwacked the real-life giant on the couch with the wiimote before handing them back down to Quincy.

"Try it again," she ordered, crouching down beside him.

Quincy blinked, stunned, and whirled around to see what Ganondorf would do. The large man just gave him a look and went back to playing, rolling his bruised shoulder in a way that suggested only minor annoyance, not the rage that Quincy would have expected.

"Quick!" Nya cried in his ear, cutting off his contemplation. "Move to the left or he'll get you!"

The trainer instinctively rammed the control pad in that direction, and Ivysaur dodged out of the way of Marth's sword onscreen.

"Now attack! Press A! A A A!"

Quincy couldn't help grinning a little at her fearsome expression as he followed her instructions, mashing whatever button combo she shouted at him. They did quite well like this, and thanks to her initial rampage they ended up winning the round. And the next, and the next…

**xXx**

"DANG IT!" Pit shouted, tossing his controllers into the air and glaring at the Quincy-Nya combo, both members of which were grinning smugly at him and Snake, both of whom had lost miserably.

"Let me know if anybody manages to beat either of them," Snake said dismissively, passing off his wiimote to Mario. Pit dropped his onto the couch for anybody to claim and flitted out of the thickest of the crowds, settling down on the edge next to a brown-haired individual, who looked up happily at him when he landed.

"What's up?" Angel asked.

"Quincy and Nya are kicking butt," Pit said sadly.

"That is truly unfortunate," Angel declared. "You should challenge both of them to a real-life brawl and see how they do then."

Pit considered it for a minute. "Nah."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because it's much more fun hanging out over here with you," Pit grinned. "Who says you need to win to have fun?"

**xXx**

"There you are!" a voice cried triumphantly. Roy started, nearly whacked his head on the barbell, and managed to set the weight back into its slot, glancing up to see Nana looking over at him happily.

"I've been looking all over for you," she said. "And you know you're not supposed to lift by yourself—you need a spotter."

Roy slid out from the bar and looked at her curiously. When he was sitting down she was a little taller than him.

"Why are you here?"

"Because Popo and I learned pretty quick that we suck at video games," she said, her voice devoid of any shame or embarrassment. "But I wanted to see you play. You weren't in the room, so I went looking."

"I…gee, thanks," Roy muttered, not sure whether to be flattered or embarrassed. "But I don't really want to play."

She leaned on the bar before he could slide underneath it again. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not in the game."

"So?"

"So it's awkward and defeats the whole point of it," Roy grumbled, standing up from the bench and snatching his music player up from the floor, twirling the cords into a knot and stuffing the mess into his pocket. "I don't quite fit in anywhere, you know? I don't quite click with the older crowd anymore… I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing."

"Having fun?" Nana suggested. Roy shrugged.

"Look, like it or not you're here now," Nana said sternly. "And you're going to play whether you want to or not—so you might as well have fun doing it!"

Roy just raised an eyebrow.

"I _will _drag you," she threatened.

He laughed easily. "Sure, like you could—OOF."

"HAH!" Nana said triumphantly, and then spun on her heel and dashed out of the gym before Roy could get to his feet.

"_Real_ mature, Nana!" he shouted after her as he chased her out of the room.

"No shame!" she shouted gleefully back at him.

**xXx**

Quincy and Nya had finally been forced from the gameplay and were now hovering in one of the room's corners, laughing at the pathetic attempts of everybody else trying to play.

It was during a brief lull in the gaming while they replaced the batteries that Nya said suddenly, "Hey Quincy, I need to talk to you about something."

The pokemon trainer turned to face her, face split with a grin. "Yeah? Sure. About what?"

She averted her gaze, looking determinedly into the wall over Quincy's shoulder. "I'm…um…I'm going back to school next semester."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know, I know," she sighed. "And I'm really bummed about it, but there's nothing I can do. I've spent a whole year here. I've been taking online classes and everything, but I'm in my junior year, and I really need to focus on school again. I've fallen so far behind, and…"

"But you'll get a job here!" Quincy said urgently. "Nintendo has a referral program…they'll place you somewhere…Pit says that Angel is staying, why aren't you…?!"

"Angel is two years younger than me and actually wants to be a radio broadcaster," Nya said dully. "I don't _want_ to be a cleaning lady, Quincy."

"What do you want to be, then?"

"A scientist."

There was an awkward silence.

"But I wanted to tell you now, while there's still a little time left," she continued softly after the pause. "I didn't want it to be too sudden."

Quincy nodded, unsure of what he was supposed to say. "I…well…thanks for telling me, I guess."

"I just wanted to say that I had fun here," she said softly. "Hanging out with you, talking with you…babysitting with you, it was all so much fun. And I'm going to miss it."

"Yeah, me too," Quincy said, feeling like he was on the verge of something big. Something defining. "Nya, I really like you. I _'like' _like you."

She blinked, and his brain belatedly caught up with his mouth.

"Oh. _Fudge_…" he muttered, taking in her face, and then turned tail and _ran_.

**xXx**

Pit saw Quincy fleeing the room out of the corner of his eye with Pikachu chasing after him and immediately disengaged from Angel with a blurted "sorry," launching over the heads of staffers and brawlers alike and nearly running into a flushed Roy and Nana as he ducked down low to fit through the doorway.

"Hey," Roy said lightly, barring the way. "What's up? I just saw Quincy go running out…"

"Dunno," Pit said, latching onto Roy's shirtsleeve and tugging him with him. "Come with me and find out."

Roy started to tug out of the angel's grasp, but then saw Nana laughing and making shooing motions at the two of them.

"I'll catch up with you later," Roy assured her, and then darted off after Pit, who was chasing concernedly after his best friend and his pokemon.

They found them both in the stadium, Quincy swinging his legs over the edge, looking forlornly down into the safety net and glaring at the sky, which had stopped pouring ice-rain but looked as if it was in the mood to start again at any minute.

Quincy didn't look like he was in much better shape. Pikachu was curled up at his side, cooing in a concerned sort of way.

Pit landed hard on the ground next to him and immediately asked, "Quincy, what's up?"

"Don't want to talk about it," the pokemon trainer said shakily, drawing his knees up to his chest.

"Okay…" The angel pulled a face. "Do you want us to leave you alone?"

"…No."

And so the four of them sat like that for awhile; Roy on one side, Pit on the other, Pikachu sandwiched in the middle, until Quincy finally managed a quiet, "Nya's going away."

Both boys hissed sympathetically and Pikachu yelped.

"Where?" Roy asked.

"School," Quincy mumbled into his sleeves.

"She's older than you, isn't she?"

"Two years."

Pit looked earnestly at Roy, obviously at a loss for what to say. Roy grimaced, and settled down a little closer to the trainer.

"Okay. So you really like her, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Look, here's what you have to do…" Roy explained a quick battle plan to the trainer, who looked shocked at first, but then seemed to see the sense in it. At length, he rose and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sweater, looking down at Pit and Roy.

"We'll wait here for you, so you know where to find us when you're done, okay?" Roy said kindly. "Go off and give it a try. If it doesn't work, then you'll at least have tried."

Quincy nodded, apparently too nervous for words just yet, and loped off towards the exit, Pikachu trailing after him like a yellow puppy.

"Do you honestly think that will work?" Pit asked when he'd gone.

"Maybe," Roy shrugged. "Maybe not. But the important thing is trying. You can't hope to get any better at anything if you just sit on the sidelines and never take the initiative…" He paused, and blinked, digesting what he'd just said. Then he turned to Pit and said suddenly, "You and I should hang out more. Quincy too."

The angel looked pleasantly surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. I mean, I like hanging out with you guys. You're both really cool, and I'd like to spend more time with you, if you don't mind my company."

"No, I like hanging out with you. You're awesome. But I thought you and Marth and Link were all…I don't know." Pit shrugged a little pragmatically. "I mean, you guys have the Dairy Queen Incident…"

"Kid," Roy said. "You me and Quince can top that _easy_."

Pit smirked. "You think so?"

"Sure," Roy agreed, knocking the kid's shoulder. "It'll be fun."

**xXx**

"Hey," Sonic asked belatedly of his fellow gamers. "I saw Roy and Pit leave here awhile ago. Any idea what that was about?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Snake replied, jiggling the wiimote and planting a bomb, which promptly blew up in Ganondorf's face.

"I always said that those two would get along well," Marth said sagely, and then made to slash with his sword before re-realizing that he wasn't holding one. "…Okay, this isn't as much fun as I thought it'd be."

"What are you talking about?" Sonic laughed. "This is hysterical!"

**xXx**

Quincy found Nya in the staffing quarters and was surprised that she was by herself. Roy had mentioned that girls liked to clump together when frightened or startled, so he was expecting to have to wait for them all to leave before talking to her. But she was alone.

She noticed him before he meant her too, offered up a small smile his direction and said, "I'm sorry about before. I was rude."

"I was rude for running away," Quincy replied evenly. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that, so I'm sorry it was so sudden."

"Yeah, well…I did spring my leaving on you pretty suddenly."

The pokemon trainer shrugged. "Not really. There's still some time."

She looked at the ground. "But not a lot, you know."

"I know."

There was another beat of silence.

"Nya, I really like you. You're cool, you're old, you're really sensible about stuff, and I know I'm younger and I know we have next to nothing in common but...I really like hanging out with you. And I understand that I'm young, and this is probably just a crush, but it doesn't feel insignificant now. So I'd like it if you took this." He held out a slip of paper to her. "It's my email address. I'd like to stay in touch."

She took the sheet of paper, glanced at the writing on it, and deftly tore it in half.

Quincy blinked, too startled to say anything.

Without saying a word, she walked over to her bed and fished around underneath the frame for a minute, emerging with a pen. Still not looking at him, she took one of the paper scraps and scrawled on it for a minute, and then held it back out to him.

"This is mine," she said plainly. "So you don't have to wait for me to message you first."

He let out a breath then, folding up the scrap of paper reverently. "Thanks. You can message me whenever you want, you know."

She grinned. "'Challenge accepted,' trainer." And then she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

He stiffened, every circuit in his brain completely shorting out until she pulled away and grinned.

"I have to get moving," she said, and then swept out of the room, leaving Quincy standing in the center clutching the slip of paper and trying to process what had just happened.

Pikachu chirruped smugly from his ankles.

"Yeah yeah yeah," Quincy said breathlessly. "You can say 'I told you so' all you want…"

**xXx**

**Oh gosh…this is goodbye for some of them. **

***watch me get emotional like a boss***

***flails* I LOVE ALL OF THEM SO MUUUUUUUUCH. ;A;**

**Sonic: **I'm glad I was able to make him happy in the end. He got a bit more social, didn't he?** Snake: **He ended up nicely involved despite his standoffish nature. He's content and I'm happy about that.** Ganondorf: **…He got steadily lazier and less evil as the series progressed, didn't he? At the moment he's more of an observer than an antagonist. I'm excited that I could write about that change. He was an excellent villain though.

**Angel: **Special thanks to_ angel_ for letting me use her name and for giving me the inspiration for her character. She and Pit are both so enthusiastic and social.** Nana: **I feel like I could have written about her a bit more. She's an awesome character and I thank _MoD _for accidentally introducing Roy/Nana to me. **Nya: **She's been around for 66 of the 69 chapters. I originally wasn't going to have her end up with Quincy—I was going to make her go back to school much sooner and never contact him, but they wanted to stick together. I'm really proud of creating the sort of character that people would ask about. It's thanks to all you people who kept asking for Nya/Quincy fluff that they stuck through.

**Pit: **Oh my gosh that kid. Through it all he remained totally innocent~! XD I love him so so much I want to hug him all the time. He's like a fluffy ray of cuteness and I'm so happy I was able to write such an enthusiastic character. My favorite moments with him were probably his interactions with Oliver and his moments where he was puppy-dogging after Marth (it's really a miracle he came out as unscathed as he did XD).

**Roy: **The funny thing about Roy was that I originally threw him in there so that I would have a truly immature character to work with, but despite my best efforts he grew up right before my eyes. He's probably the most mature of the group at the moment. He's still sort of stranded in-between social groups, but I have faith that he'll work it out. I really learned to trust him, and I'm glad that I was able to work through his issues with him. I feel like he developed the most and I love how he turned out. Roy is an outstanding young man and I'm excited that he became more of a leader in the end. My favorite moment with him was when he was dancing with Ike in chapter 23.

**Quincy: **…There isn't a whole lot left to say about Quincy, except that I will never look at the pokemon trainer ever again without thinking of that name. He has all of Pit's innocence and all of my awkwardness and I love him so so so much. He is SUCH a good kid, and he doesn't mind that he hardly got the spotlight because he's just GOOD like that. He was my pet character, and I lavished him with love and I'm so glad that he ended up as happy as he did. He has friends. My favorite moment with him was when he was able to one-up Marth about the latter's fear of heights in chapter 54.

**So…yup. Beginning of the end here, people. The next chapter will mostly wrap up my mainstream characters. And then the epilogue…*bites pillow* **

**Thank you all so much for helping to give these characters such a life of their own. I don't think I've ever worked on a project with such a variety of characters. You are all so awesome for supporting this—I'm having so much fun. **

**Please review.**


	70. Chapter 70: Outing

**Argh. I actually had three versions of this chapter. =_= I finally got one I'm happy with. I hope it's worth the wait. **

**Also, for anybody who feels like stalking me after this story is concluded, I have a deviantart now (I have for awhile, I just kept forgetting to mention it). Just google 'MouseMaster42' and my account should pop up. There are a couple Oliver doodles on there…**

**Thanks to _EchoingBreeze;_ Thank you so much~! *Marth hugs you back* ~ Thanks to _Azulhada_; Random button mashing FTW! ~ Thanks to _EvilChalkboard_; I love the way you spell. It makes me chuckle. XD ~ Thanks to _neuron6_; Woot, thank you very much. Do keep an eye out for me. ~ Thanks to _Akayuri_; Oh my goooosh. Comments like yours make my life. Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _seqka711_; *absorbs love* Thank you so much. ~ Thanks to _Hitomi Kogure_; It has had a really good run, hasn't it? ~ Thanks to _Sir StarlIl_; Your reviews make my life. XD Nya does own SSBB—how did you think she got so good at it? ;D ~ Thanks to _Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye_; You may have Pit, but Marth is mine. *hiss* ~ Thanks to _realisticFantasy_; Thank you so much. I'm glad I was able to create unique characters. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Starempress Sophie_; Oh, I plan to write quite a bit more before SSB4 comes out. No worries. ^_^ I'll be around. ~ Thanks to _DwellonErised_; Thank you so much. I'm glad the characters were interesting. ~ Thanks to _SchwarzWeiss ZwillingsMonde_; You just ruined corn for me because I will think it smells like fluff. Gosh darnit. This is one of those things that will remain lodged in my head so that sixty years from now somebody's going to say "it's so fluffy" and I'll say "corn" without thinking about it. XD ~ Thanks to _catsrae_; Thank you so much. I like how Ganon turned out as well (he's a lazy guy XD). ~ Thanks to _OkonoMiyagi;_ NO. Totally not a bad idea. Well done you for making it through all 69 chapters in one day. ~ Thanks to _Lord Lithos Maitreya_; Aah…Thank you so much. *explodes from happiness* ~ Thanks to _Crusader42_; Don't know if you made it up until this point, but I'm glad you're enjoying. ^_^ ~ Thanks to _Anonymous_; OOH! Sweet. I'll have to check it out. ****我喜欢困难的事。，我想我会写神秘。****~ Thanks to _MessengerOfDreams_; OH MY GOSH YOU JUST GOT THAT? *facepalm* Yeah, I get it. You're like their foster-father when I'm too tired to deal with them. XD Seriously though, I owe a lot to you in terms of characterization and plot bunnies. *virtual hug* ~ Thanks to _Draconis Kitten Sweetie_; Yeah, Snake and Ganon aren't big on hugs. XD Holy cow! Well done! I'm glad you liked the game! ~ Thanks to _wildcat3264_; I'm determined to end it well. I hope you're satisfied. **

***asplodes of happiness* oh my gosh you guys… QuQ I love you all so much. I have a pile of fan mail sitting in my inbox. I'll answer that as soon as I'm done here, but you guys are WICKED AMAZING AWESOMETASTIC. Man. I can't get over how happy this story has made me. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, including the song lyrics included. Special thanks to _Maplesong_, who suggested that I include Skillet's "Those Nights." It ended up suiting the theme perfectly. There isn't a whole lot of significance to the others songs I mentioned—they're just what popped up on my iPod while I was writing this. **

**I'm actually pretty happy with this.**

**Please read, enjoy, and review. **

**xXx**

**Chapter 70: Outing**

"Hey, we're all going out tonight. Want to come?"

He looked up from the bed, where he was sprawled upside-down, laptop propped up on his lap, socked feet slung over the headboard. "Who's we?"

She leaned against the doorframe and tugged at the hem of her sweater. "You, me—"

"I'm in," he said suddenly, swinging his legs from the bed and snatching up his shoes from the floor.

"Ike, Link, Zelda and Sheik," Samus finished with a grin, watching Marth duck down to tie his laces. "We thought it'd be nice to go out with just the six of us. Pretend to be normal for a bit, you know? We've got permission to take the Pilot out for a spin."

"Who's driving?"

"I am." She raised an eyebrow, daring him to argue.

A crooked grin skipped across his face as he stood up. "Well," he said sincerely. "This ought to be interesting."

**xXx**

She wrenched at the steering wheel with a practiced hand, causing the other five occupants of the vehicle to scream in varying degrees of manliness as the car slung itself into a doughnut, careening across the road before sliding deftly from the gravel onto a patch of grass, missing the steep drop-off of the road by inches. Tossing the keys to a stunned Marth, who was sprawled in the passenger seat with a foot braced on the dashboard, Samus hopped out into the lot, kicking one of the tires appreciatively and knocking off a residual clod of dirt from one of her several off-road detours.

Link rolled out after climbing over the back row of seats and pantomimed kissing the ground before offering Zelda a hand to help her down. "Okay," he said breathlessly. "You know how I said it was a toss-up between Ike and Roy for the worst driver? I take it back. You win hands down."

"I resent that comment," Ike grumbled, stepping out from the middle.

Sheik leapt out after him without help and was looking appreciatively at the curving skid marks across the gravel road. "I can't decide if that experience was horrifying or epic."

"Where the heck did you learn how to drive like that?" Link demanded, sweeping his bangs out of his eyes.

Samus gave him a disbelieving look. "Link, I pilot _spaceships_. A Honda is child's play after that."

Next to her, Marth scoffed. She turned her look on him next.

"I'm just saying," he held his hands up defensively. "That riding in a nice cushy spaceship in a suit of armor surrounded by several layers of metal is a lot easier than trying to steer a living animal in the middle of a battlefield when you've got nothing but a breastplate to protect your person from, say, an axe."

"I'd like to see you get us out here in less than three minutes," she challenged.

"Anytime anyplace. Where are we, anyway?"

"One of the neighbor's fields," Sheik said, stretching her arms up towards the dark sky. "We thought about going to The Brink, but it seemed like too much of a hassle."

"Besides, you can't hear yourself think there," Samus said, reaching back into the car to fiddle with the radio. "We thought it'd be better out here."

"Okay," Link said amicably, crawling onto the hood of the car and rolling over to look at the stars. "So what are we doing, exactly?"

"Chilling," Ike said with a shrug. "Enjoying the quiet."

"Except it's not completely quiet," Marth pointed out rationally. "The radio's on."

"So you don't like Two Door Cinema Club?"

"Never heard of it, honestly."

"They're one of those hipster bands," Sheik said dismissively.

"Hey," Link and Zelda said. "It's 'alternative.'"

"Yeah, alternative isn't really my scene either, so." Marth shrugged.

"You and your Ellie Goulding."

"Shut up." Marth leaned against the side of the car and tilted his head back, listening to the soft music trickling from the car's stereo. Samus buzzed down all of the windows, and then pulled one of the doors open so that she could sit down. Zelda climbed onto the hood next to Link, and Sheik crouched down in the grass. Ike stood off to the side a little, hands in the pockets of his jeans, looking down at the road.

After a minute, Marth broke the silence with, "Okay, so it's not bad."

Zelda took that as her cue to sing along with the refrain and murmured a few lines, her clear voice floating across the field before getting carried away by the wind.

"It's been awhile since we could just sit down somewhere," Link said softly. "Which is nice and all, but…" He rolled over and glanced down the side of the van, looking at the other four. "It's also been awhile since I got to seriously talk to any of you. Any words of wisdom you feel compelled to impart?"

There was a silence.

Sheik stood up and zipped her sweater up to her neck, shifting her weight from one leg to the other and playing with the end of her braid. "Okay, something a little more basic then: we're playing the question game."

"The question game?"

"Sure," she said. "It's easy. One person asks a question—any sort of question—and everybody else has to answer truthfully. Then the next person goes. Like that."

"I guess I'm down for that," Marth nodded, walking around the car to the hood, where he perched on the edge. Samus followed him and sat on the bumper, and Ike and Sheik scrambled—him a lot less gracefully than her—onto the roof-rack.

"I'll go first," Sheik said, lying down across the roof to distribute her weight better. "If you had to listen to one song on infinite repeat for twenty-four hours, what is the one song that would cause you to commit suicide?"

"Oh, there are so many," Marth moaned, cupping his face in his hands.

"Give us a 'for instance,' then," Ike prompted, lying down on his stomach as well after noticing the metal creaking a bit underneath him. It seemed to fix the problem.

"Anything the Beiber touches, for starters—"

"Hey, he's gotten a lot better," Zelda protested.

"Pretty much anything pop, actually," Marth continued cynically as he thought about it. "I'm sort of fed up with mainstream at the moment."

"And yet you don't like hipster bands."

"I haven't heard of hipster bands," the Alean corrected. "Which is essentially the whole point of a hipster band. I don't know if I like them or not."

"How about you, Ike?"

"I'm really not huge on love songs," Ike admitted. "So anything cheesy like that would drive me insane. Heaven forbid a song be about social issues or something."

"Gangnam-Style," Sheik deadpanned next to him. He tried to fire something back at her, but was drowned out by a chorus of "EEEY," from the others.

"Okay, okay, I have a question," Zelda said, cutting off his second attempt for a sarcastic comment. "What superhero would you all be and why?"

"BATMAN!" Sheik cried, throwing her arm over the windshield of the car. "Totally Batman. I call dibs on Batman. Ike can be Robin."

"Ah, but which one?" Ike asked, nudging her shoulder with his. She shot him a look, her eyes seeming to sparkle in the starlight as her jaw dropped open in shock.

"You know your Batman!" she shouted ecstatically and wrapped both arms around his neck. "Dude! Your awesomeness level just went from here,"—she dropped her arm over the side of the car—"To here!" She waved it above his head, and then dropped her palm onto his head. "Well done!"

"I'd rather be Iron Man, thank you very much," Marth said. "Which makes Sam Ms. Potts."

Both of Samus' eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me? Don't you think _I'd_ be much more suited to being Iron Man?_ I'm_ the one with the giant metal suit, after all."

"You could be Scarlett Johansson," Link said rationally. "The Black Widow or whatever she is. That'd be you. I think I'd be Green Arrow."

"Hit Girl," Zelda said suddenly, which was enough to break up Sheik's and Ike's conversation about Jason Todd.

"Really?" Link said nervously, edging away from her.

"No, not really. I just couldn't think of a good female superhero. And I like the color purple, so."

Everybody stared at her for a minute, and she just propped her hands underneath her chin and returned their looks evenly, to the point where it was impossible to tell if she was telling the truth or not.

"Okay…" Samus said nervously after the awkward silence. "If you could have any sort of exotic pet, what would you have?"

Marth grinned. "What sort of questions are these?"

"You want a kitten, don't you? I bet any money you're a cat guy."

"I want a flying squirrel," he said with a straight face. "And I shall name him Stuey, and he shall be my evil minion and rest on my shoulder like some epic parrot imitation, but cooler because he's a squirrel and obsessed with nuts."

Ike coughed surreptitiously. "Just like his dad."

Marth tipped his head back to glare. "Wow, dude. Real mature."

"Speaking of nuts," Sheik said bluntly, which got everybody's attention very quickly. "I've always been sort of curious about this: what's the worst physical pain you've ever been in?"

There was a pause as everybody thought about it, and Passion Pit drifted through the night air, the odd chords and nonsensical lyrics somehow suiting the atmosphere.

"Physical pain, huh?" Marth confirmed. Sheik nodded. He dropped his head back onto the hood to think about it.

"Being electrocuted is pretty bad," Samus volunteered after a moment, rubbing her wrist absently.

"I think the worst is a burn," Ike said. "Like a really bad burn that's across some sensitive skin—that's the worst."

Link rolled back over and lifted his head up to look at everybody. "Have any of you ever gotten that weird thing where you whack your arm in a weird way and suddenly your whole body really hurts?"

"Oh, yeah, I've had that," Sheik nodded. "Like a Charlie Horse but all over, right?"

"Yeah. Like that. That really hurts."

"You know, if it weren't physical pain, I'd say that embarrassment is right up there," Marth said thoughtfully, running a hand through his hair and making eye contact with the other five.

"Most embarrassing experience of your life?" Ike asked.

Sheik and Zelda exchanged an awkward look, and Zelda eventually said, "We've done a lot of embarrassing things. It's hard to pick just one out."

Samus nudged Marth's shoulder. "You should tell them yours."

"Which one?" Marth laughed. "The scepter one or the magic circle?"

"Oh no…" Ike moaned. "I heard the magic circle story."

"I haven't," Link, Sheik and Zelda all said eagerly.

"I was…a bit of a klutz when I was little," Marth confessed, rubbing his forehead reminiscently. "I tripped over something and accidentally poofed myself halfway across the continent. It took my father nearly three days to find me."

"Here's a thought," Sheik said. "If you…weren't you. I mean, if you were born here, on Earth, but you were the exact same person, you just weren't a prince or a warrior or whatever, what do you think you'd become?"

"What do you mean?"

Sheik shrugged. "Kids here sometimes don't know what they want to do with their lives until they're almost twenty. If you weren't a prince, Marth, what would you be? If you weren't a bounty hunter, Samus, what would you be? Zelda and Link, if Hyrule didn't exist, where would you be in five years? I'm just curious."

"It's so weird how they do that," Link commented. "I mean, can you imagine how that'd feel, not knowing? I think it'd be really scary."

"I think it'd be freeing, not to have everything set in stone," Marth said softly. "But scary too."

They all digested that for a few minutes, and while they were thinking the song on the radio switched over to Civil Twilight's 'Letters from the Sky.'

"I think I'd be a teacher," Zelda murmured. "I'd like to work with children."

"My job translates pretty well in this world," Samus shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd just get into bail bonds and insurance."

"…Physical trainer?" Ike offered with a chuckle. "I don't know. What about you, Sheik?"

"I don't know," she said blankly. "Maybe you and I could own a gym together or something. How about you, Marth?"

"I've honestly never thought about it. Maybe a detective or something like that in law enforcement?"

"I was sure you were going to say politics," Zelda said confusedly.

"Nah. It's too confusing here. If I'm in charge, I want to be in charge because I am, and I don't want people to be able to challenge that, you know?" He waved his hand airily over his head in an uncaring gesture.

"So you're in favor of communism?"

He scowled. "It's called a _monarchy_, and it's been working out pretty well for me, thank you very much."

"Okay, new question," Ike said pointedly. "Any secret pleasures you feel like sharing?"

"Link watches Once Upon A Time whenever it's on," Zelda blurted, and suffered being whacked upside the head for her troubles as Link rode out the stifled sniggering.

"Seriously?" Marth cackled. "Dude, you are such a cheeseball…!"

"It's good, okay? Don't knock it 'til you try it, Mr…Mr. Cry-When-Dumbledore-Died."

"I wasn't crying, okay? And you were teary too, man!"

"Have any of you guys gone back to watch some of the old Pokemon episodes?" Zelda asked. "Those things are depressing."

"Yeah. The movie was sad," Sheik agreed.

"There's no shame in admitting to still watching pokemon," Marth declared stubbornly. "Nor is there in mourning the loss of an excellent character!"

"Hey," Sheik inserted before he and Link could start going at it again. "If the zombie apocalypse happened tomorrow…"

"You have my rapt attention," Link said.

"…Who would you pick to be on your side?"

"Assuming that we're not among the first to be zombified?"

"Yeah, assuming that."

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Zelda said after a beat. "I'd go with you five. There isn't anybody else here I trust more. I mean, sure, I'd do my best to protect everybody else in the stadium, and I know we all would…But if I had you guys on my side, I wouldn't be too worried."

"I think we could hold out in the stadium for a couple of years," Link said reasonably. "Easy. No problem. We could probably save the staffers as well and form our own little society up there."

"And then Stoelhart'd come flying in on the helicopter he no-doubt has and help us reclaim the earth," Marth sighed, caught up in the fantasy.

"…Dude," Ike said in a low voice. "Stoelhart is dead."

"Wha—oh. Yeah. Yeah…I know." Marth waved the reminder away. "Sorry, lost in the moment. Slip of the tongue. It just seemed like something that he'd have done."

Samus raised an eyebrow. "Do you know something?"

"No! No. No, seriously." He held his hands up in denial. "Seriously."

"You sure about that?" Samus pressed, leaning in close to him so that their noses were almost touching.

The Altean shrank back from her, trying to get his hands up in-between them. "YES, jeez. It was an accident, of course he's dead. Look," he said desperately. "It's snowing!"

Samus had caught hold of the front of his shirt and looked like she was contemplating shaking the answers from him, but then the others looked up and Zelda blurted, "OOH" in such a tone that Samus let go and looked up as well, although not before giving Marth a pointed 'we-_will-_talk-about-this-later' look, which Marth endured without comment.

And sure enough, it was legitimately snowing. Small flakes drifted down from the sky from wispy clouds, floating through the air and melting as soon as they touched the ground.

Sheik propped herself up on the roof and held an arm out, laughing when one of the flakes touched down on her fingertip, visible for just a minute before it melted. Ike sat up next to her and caught another one for her, pointing out the flakes that had already settled on her shoulders.

Link had stuck his tongue out and was trying to funnel the flakes into his mouth, which wasn't working very well but was making Zelda laugh next to him.

Samus, having finished glaring at Marth, stood up, looked around and said grudgingly, "Well, this is picturesque."

"Mm. Very scenic," Marth agreed, brushing snow out of his dark hair. The world seemed to have grown very small and quiet all of a sudden as the snow fell, as if the only things that truly existed were the six of them, the music, and the car.

Simple guitar chords laced the cool air along with a simple harmony of voices singing a subtle song

_ "The whole world is spinning, and I'm standing still…And the world spins madly on…"_

"I like it," Marth whispered after a minute. Samus turned to look at him curiously, and he continued. "I like not knowing. It's frightening. But I like it. It makes everything a lot more fun. It makes moments like these important, you know? Because you never know which one of them's going to be your last. I could be gone tomorrow. And that's scary. But it makes tonight so much more important and special to me. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Samus said slowly, and then looked at the spot next to Marth on the bumper. "Can I sit here?"

"Yeah, you can sit here," he said sleepily, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder when she did.

**xXx**

"I never realized you were so into snow," Ike laughed, watching Sheik's pale face flush at the cheeks as she swept her hand through the air, causing the little snowflakes to eddy left and right where she created the breeze.

"It's been awhile since I've seen it, so of course I'm interested," she said smartly. "What's not to love about snow?"

"You're fun to watch."

"Am I?"

"Yeah. You look like you want to take off and go run around in it," he commented, playing with a strand of her hair.

"Yeah, well. You look like you could use some company," she replied, leaning against his shoulder. "I'm staying right here."

**xXx**

"I feel like a kid," Zelda commented, lying on her back on the hood of the Pilot, watching clouds float across the stars. "Watching it snow."

"It's weird how everybody's so fascinated by it," Link laughed, pressing his face into her hair. "Even though we've all seen it before."

"It's because it's been a long time, and we've forgotten how beautiful it is."

Link sighed deeply, inhaling the night air, and then said softly so that the other couples couldn't hear. "Do you think it'll be like this someday, with us? When we've all gone off to separate places? Do you think we'll remember times like this?"

"Do you think anything lasts forever?" she countered.

"No," he replied. "Everything changes. That's why you have to appreciate the moment."

"I don't think that," Zelda whispered, turning around to grin. "I think some things do last forever. And what we have now, and this moment, and this peace—I think—will never really go away. And these memories will last forever too, no matter what happens."

Link smiled serenely, and then gave a violent start when Sheik suddenly shouted, "LIGHTNING!"

Marth managed to flail himself from the bumper despite Samus' well-intentioned attempt to catch him and fell hard onto the ground with a loud swear word that was nearly drowned out by the rumble of thunder.

"But it was just snowing!" Zelda complained, propping herself up on an elbow to see Sheik stand up on the Pilot for a better look.

Sure enough, lightning forked in the distance, and thunder cracked along behind it.

"…Thundersnow," Ike explained lamely.

"Well there's something that doesn't happen every day…" Marth said sourly from the gravel.

"Should we go home?"

Ike shook his head. "Nah."

There was a rush of cold wind, followed by the first of the icy raindrops.

"Okay…maybe," Ike conceded. Thunder—much louder than it had been—smashed in the sky, and lightning struck a little too close for comfort in the flat field. "OKAY! Yeah, we should go. Like now."

They swung themselves into the car—Marth pausing at his door to fling the keys back to Samus—and narrowly avoided getting drenched as the sleet started to bucket out of the sky almost the moment after they had slammed the last of the doors. Samus wrenched the car into reverse and did a crazy, skittering doughnut in the road, effectively reversing the car without ever touching the brake pedal.

"Dude!" Link laughed, watching the storm blossom over the sky through the windshield wipers. "That's sort of cool."

"You're not the one driving in it," Samus snapped, pointing the headlight beams in the direction of the stadium and flooring the gas.

Marth had adopted his previous position of bracing against the dashboard and reached over to spin the dial of the radio to the weather station, but all he got was static. Hail started to plink against the roof, and Samus did something with the pedals that made the car seem like it was speeding up despite the speedometer already hovering around ninety. Marth made a noise and spun the radio back to the previous station.

They careened into the brawl parking lot, but didn't dare step out of the car for the hail and icy rain and the lightning that was forking across the sky. Instead, they stayed inside the van and talked about nonsense things—asking questions, laughing or wincing at the answers; cracking jokes; telling stories.

Even when the rain died down and the sky cleared back out into stars and the radio buzzed back into coherency, they didn't leave the car until much, much later.

**xXx**

_I remember when_

_We used to laugh_

_About nothing at all_

_It was better than going mad_

_From trying to solve all the problem we're going through_

_Forget 'em all_

_Cause on those night we would stand and never fall_

_Together we faced it all_

_._

_Remember when we'd_

_Stay up late and we'd talk all night_

_In a dark room lit by the TV light_

_Through all the hard times in my life_

_Those nights kept me alive_

_._

_Those nights belong to us._

_There's nothing wrong with us._

**-"Those Nights" by Skillet**

**xXx**

**My sister and I named the red squirrel living in our backyard Stuey, and he really is obsessed with nuts and a feisty little thing. True story. **

**Thundersnow is truly a wonderous thing to behold. And Once Upon A Time is a drama program that my best friend got me hooked on. It's really good, but not the sort of thing a manly man necessarily wants to admit to watching. XD**

**The lines concluding Sheik/Ike's and Smarthus's final appearance were some of the first lines I had them say to each other in this story. I like doing full-circle things like that. Link and Zelda didn't have a defining line like the other two. But I think it's okay. **

…**And here I have to say goodbye to my marvelous girls. To be honest, when I started this fic, I wasn't thinking too much about the girls. I was mainly taken in my Marth and Link, Ike ended up growing on me, and the girls were more of a side thought. But as things went on they progressed and really became solid characters.**

**Zelda: **She's just so niiiiiice. But she's not really. I didn't get to write about it much, but she's very put-together. She'll only drop the mask and act immature or childish with people she really trusts. But she was rock-solid throughout the entire story. Nothing really changed with her, except her feelings for Link got much deeper, maybe? Of all of the characters, she's the one I wish I could have written a bit more about. My favorite scene with her was the fight between her and Link in chapter 14 for Valentine's Day.

**Samus: **Marth's "Sam" was designed purely with the intent of giving him somebody fun to interact with. Her lines and interactions with him are based on the way I interact with my best friend, who is a guy and who flirts with anything that moves. He'll flirt, I fire it back at him, but we both know it's not serious. That's how they were. Writing the Smarthus banter was probably one my favorite things about this story, and I'm so happy I was able to write a character arc that culminated with MoD's chapter. Samus turned out to be a glorious, no-nonsense character, and I loved writing her. My favorite moment with her was when she was watching over Marth in the hospital bed in chapter 34.

**Sheik: **Ahh…Sheik. Even though Samus is my favorite character in a relationship (Smarthus is officially my OTP), Sheik was probably my favorite as an individual. She's so sure of what she thinks and self-confident. She's sort of like the person I aspire to be. She knows what she wants, and she knows how to get it, and she will, and she'll have loads of fun along the way. Writing her was so easy. I never had to worry about whether or not I was writing her right. She became less self-conscious as the story went on, didn't she? Although she's still the most modest of the three. XD My favorite moment with her was when she whacked Link with her bra in chapter 48.

…**It feels weird to say goodbye. Despite my claiming that it wouldn't, this fic really focused a lot on the couples, didn't it? I don't know if that was good thing or not, but I sure had fun doing it, and I hope you enjoyed. I like to think that they all ended up happily, and I like the way I was able to end things. I hope you're all satisfied. **

**The next chapter is. The. Last. ONE.**

**IS YOUR BODY READY?**

**Please review. ^_^**


	71. Chapter 71: Fin

**Doing things a bit differently today and sticking my author's note up here. Special thanks to _Azulhada_, who gave me the Latin idea that concludes this piece. Special thanks also to those of you who reviewed without an account so I wasn't able to PM you: you are all. AMAZING. Like "words-do-not-describe" amazing. Cyber hugs all around. Anyway...**

**First of all, let me say that this has been a truly unprecedented experience on my part. When I first started this almost two years ago I never thought it would grow into something this meaningful to me. To this moment I still don't know exactly how that happened, but a great deal of it was due to you lovely people who took the time to review and support this plot-bunny. Hershel thanks you all, and I've made so many awesome friendships through the interactions of this fic and I'd like to keep as many of them as possible. But there are three people who I really feel deserve special thanks in this final chapter, and so I'm going to embarrass them now in front of everybody:**

First, to _**Foxpilot**_**, **who was here in the beginning and who helped me with that awkward transition from teenage-fantasty-fanfiction-writer to a much more professional style. I always yearned for your approval and was so proud when I finally won it. I haven't heard much from you lately, but I hope that you're reading this. I did it. You helped me so much, and I am so thankful. You were the first one who suggested that I end the fic this way**.**

Secondly, to _**Sir StarlIl**_**; **I have no words about this awesome dude that quite do him justice. You were the inspiration behind more chapters than you know. Any chapter where I mention what sort of clothing Samus was wearing was written for your benefit (jk, jk…but the swimsuit scene in the hotel was legitimately for you XD). You were the inspiration behind the Assassin arc, and you were the one to give me the final line in this whole piece. You've restored my faith in humanity more times than I can count. You're one of the funniest and quickest people I know.

Unquantifiable wads of thanks to be showered upon the ever-incredible _**MessengerOfDreams**_**, **who is the one who really convinced me that I should keep doing this. Your confidence boosters and guest-authors and character advice and advice in general have helped this thing to reach a level I don't think I would have tried to reach on my own. Your friendship is incredibly valued, and I am so glad I met you, because you are so amazing, and my writing has improved so much thanks to your leadership.

**And finally thanks to my three main guys; Link, Ike, and Marth. When it comes down to it, this story was written out of love for them. Marth got played up as the favorite, but the others were incredible in their own way. Link was so easy to write—he's so full of energy. Ike was quietly strong and so confident. And Marth was the burst of spontaneity that kept the ball rolling (and everybody's favorite bluenette angst-ball). I'm so proud of the way I was able to portray them, and I'm happy I could tell their story successfully. Kudos to Nintendo for creating such versatile characters. My favorite moment with Link was when he was romping around with Roy in chapter 32 of the Assassin Arc. My favorite moment with Ike was when he and Sheik finally sorta-kinda-maybe got together in chapter 38. **

**And Marth…Jeez I love that boy. I love him too much to pick a favorite moment. My favorite part of this whole thing remains the Smarthus story arc, so probably something from that.**

**At the time of its completion, this story has 158 favs, 121 follows, and a whopping 1,394 reviews, putting it in the top four of the entire [Mousebomb]ing archive in all categories. This is unprecedented and may be the single most meaningful accomplishment of my teenager life. Thank you all so much. **

**Disclaimer: Legally, nothing belongs to me except for the OCs (Genevieve, Oliver, Nya and Angel), and I'd appreciate it if you'd contact me before using any of them in any spinoff work of your own. Other than that, everything about this belongs to Nintendo. But I do own "this." "THIS" whole experience is something I own, and I will never forget it. Thank you all so much for making this possible.**

**I plan to write more SSBB even after this is finished, so please do keep an eye out for me. :) I'm not gone. And these characters aren't gone either. You're not really saying goodbye. **

**So…With that: Here. We. Go.**

**xXx**

**Chapter 71: Fin. **

"Have we met?"

The woman turned around in line, tossing red curls over her shoulder as she took in the dark man who'd spoken. She gave him a quick once-over, and then said briskly, "No. Don't think so, sorry."

"Oh, not a problem," the man said easily, putting his hands into the pockets of his overcoat. "It was a long time ago. I may have misremembered." He leaned up against the railing and looked at her sideways. "Or maybe you just don't remember me."

She sighed and tossed more fiery hair out of her eyes. "You're a memorable man, as I'm sure many women have told you. But I'm sure we've never been introduced."

He blinked, as if the thought had never occurred to him, but the smile that quirked up his face was the opposite of innocent. "Oh, I know we've never been introduced. You were in a rush at the time." The green-gold eyes that she had noticed slid to the floor, as if he were thinking something over. She took that as her cue to spin back around and flipped the collar on her jacket up pointedly.

"So are you watching anybody in particular today?" he asked a few minutes later as she reached into her purse for her ticket.

"No," she said, in a tone that suggested she was less than happy with his prodding. "Are you?"

"Mostly the children," the main said fondly. "They're a remarkable group, don't you think?"

"Remarkable is one word for them."

"Yet here you are." He smiled down at her and moved towards the stairs leading to the higher levels of seating. "Enjoy the show."

**xXx**

Marth was already in the locker room when Link walked in and had a foot wedged in his locker, trying to keep the pile of dirty clothes inside from spilling out while he rummaged for a clean tunic.

"Nice picture. What happened to the one from last New Year's?" the Hylian commented, jerking his chin towards the photograph Marth had taped up on the inside of his door. It had been taken that summer, at the GEEK conference, before everything crazy had went down. All of the brawlers were standing in front of the hotel, holding suitcases and looking exhausted, but happy and excited.

"Good times," Marth shrugged. "I thought it was time for a change."

"Have you seen how big the crowd is?" Link asked him.

"No, I haven't stuck my head outside yet." Marth had finally yanked out a semi-clean shirt and quickly slammed the locker shut before anything could fall out. "But the techies were saying that it was big."

"Well, it's the holiday tournament, what do you expect?" Link deadpanned and walked over to the door, opening it by a crack and squinting outside. He came back and shrugged off his shirt and said, "Yeah, I can't see. Can't tell at the moment."

"Does that sort of thing even matter?" Marth asked from the bench.

Link sat down across from him and started pulling his boots on. "No, not really. But you know how it can be, don't you? When you're all jacked up on adrenaline and you make the jump for the smash ball, but the whole crowd screams at you and you miss…? It's just a distraction."

"You don't get pumped up by it?" Marth asked disbelievingly.

"A bit, sure." The Hylian rolled his shoulders nonchalantly. "But I'd still fight even if nobody was watching, y'know?"

"Yeah. I guess I understand that."

The doors to the locker room banged open and Ike strode inside, looking confident.

"Somebody spike your morning orange juice?" Marth quipped from the corner, where he was staring into a mirror and fastening the brooch on his cloak.

"No. I just feel lucky." Ike grinned and spun the dial on his locker, swearing colorfully when a clump of clothes plopped down onto the floor at his feet.

"…Laundry day is tomorrow," Link said unhelpfully as Ike busied himself with squeezing all of the clothes back inside, his previous optimism evaportating.

Marth walked back over to them, his cape trailing a little behind him on the floor. Link eyed the prince curiously, and then opened his mouth…

"Can we please have _one_ brawl without you commenting on the circlet?" Marth pleaded.

"It wouldn't be a brawl if I didn't," Link countered.

"He's right," Ike stuck his two cents in as he tied the faded bandana around his forehead. "It's tradition now, man."

"Yeah, but just this once…Because as soon as you call my crown a tiara I'll have to make some joke about you being an elf and then Ike will jump in on somebody's side and it'll just end in sexual innuendos and rattails. Can we please be mature about this for once?"

"Nope," Link drawled. "Where _is_ your princess tiara, anyway?"

"I was thinking about asking Santa if I could trade it in for a hat like yours. Do you think he'd give me one even though I don't work at the North Pole?"

Link crammed his wind-sock over his hair and scowled. "Hey now."

"I warned you."

Over in the corner, Ike chuckled.

Link fastened his belt around his waist and waggled a gloved finger in Ike's direction. "You think it's funny now. Just wait until we're fighting."

"I was actually going to suggest an unholy alliance, if you guys are interested," Marth said, finally pulling his gold circlet from the top shelf of his locker and settling it over his bangs.

"Not today," Ike shook his head. "Sheik's going to be out there, isn't she?"

"Suit yourself. Link?"

The Hylian shook his head. "Not today."

Marth, unbothered, just smiled. "Alright, it was worth a shot."

"Besides," Ike commented, picking up his sword and spinning it idly in his hands. "You probably would've betrayed us all as soon as we trusted you."

Marth placed a hand on his breastplate and looked wounded. "I would never! You two are like brothers to me."

"Yeah?" Link said skeptically.

"Yeah. I mean—yes, I probably would have—but I really do count both of you among family."

Link reached over and knocked Marth's shoulder, sending him stumbling back a half step. "Thanks, man."

"Same goes for me as well," Ike nodded.

Marth endured their agreement with a small flush and an honest smile and quickly looked down at the floor. And if he was blinking a bit faster than usual, who could say?

"Yeah, well…I just thought I ought to say that," he mumbled after a minute.

"We already knew, man," Link scoffed.

"But it was nice to hear it," Ike said kindly.

"Even if you are a narcissistic little princess sometimes," Link had to stick in, completely ruining the moment.

Marth lifted his head; his mouth still crooked into a smile, and punched Link's shoulder. "Hey now. I just play the game."

"Not everything's a game though," Link chuckled, starting to make his way over to the door as Angel's voice crackled over the speakers, announcing that the brawl was about to get underway.

"_Life_ is a game, Link," Marth countered, determination making his eyes spark. "And we're going to win."

He shoved the door all the way open, and the three of them stepped fearlessly out into the light, ready to face the roar of the crowds together.

**xXx**

"_Audi famam illius._

_Famam illius._

_Spes omnibus, mihi quoque._

_._

_Ille iuxta me._

_Ille iuxta me._

_._

_Socii sunt mihi._

_._

_Saeve certando_

_Pungandoque_

_Spendor crescit."_

_._

"I've heard legends of that person

I've heard legends of that person.

Revered by many – I too, revere him.

.

Now that person stands at my side.

Now that person stands at my side.

.

Now my friends are with me.

.

And as we face each other in battle,

Locked in combat

We shine ever brighter."

.

**Fin.**

**xXx**

**Thank you for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoyed. **

**...Now I have to go find something else to work on to fill the Game-shaped void in my life. This project has stolen two years of my life, and I wouldn't trade the world to get a second of that time back. It was well-spent.**

**Let's do this again sometime. This has been MouseMaster42.**

**Be well. Glory to God. **


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